Trap for the Heart
by Nilke
Summary: Alina (my tactician) strikes again! It's been some months since she left Pherae, and she's attacked by a band of bandits. Hopefully, help arrives, from someone she would have never expected. What will happen then? (tactician X unexpected character?)
1. The curse of the bandits

Important note: this fic happens after beating the game with Eliwood's route, not with Hector's!! 

*** 

"Trap for the Heart" 

Chapter 1: The curse of the bandits 

It was a sunny, cool day. Everything seemed normal and peaceful in those plains of the Lycian League, next to the frontier with Etruria. There was no one in that territory, except a young, brownish-reddish-haired tactician by the name of Alina. A young tactician for hire in her early twenties, who was, in fact, one of the persons who helped to defeat Nergal more than a year ago, and who just vanished before Lord Eliwood of Pherae's ascension as Marquess Pherae, or so the world thought. 

She was carrying some bags, in which she had her personal wares and some tactic books. She was wearing a knee-lenght grey skirt, a bluish t-shirt, and a green cape that matched with her green eyes. Everything seemed so fine, so peaceful, that she was feeling it was odd. It was an idyllic view, that of the Lycian forest... although those bandits who popped out from the trees weren't idyllic. Not at all. 

"Oh, hell!", Alina thought, surprised, facing a bunch of huge, tough bandits. "I hope I can get out from this..." 

She turned back quickly, just to find five bandits more surrounding her. She was trapped by at least ten bandits, who were making a circle around her. It would be far too difficult to escape all by herself. 

"Oh, great... Why is it that every time I'm travelling through a forest or the plains I get caught by bandits?", she thought, nervously. "The first time, it was in Sacae, and Lyn found me. The second time was near Pherae, I could escape and then I joined Eliwood... But this time it won't be that easy! Nobody's around, and I'm in the middle of nowhere! Will I ever learn to travel with an escort?", she thought, resigned and scared, although she tried to look calm and serene. 

"What do we have here?", one of the bandits, apparently the leader, asked ironically. "But if it is a little, lone woman! What were you doing here, walking alone in the woods, cutie? Were you going to your granny's house?" 

"How funny", Alina replied coldly. "I would like to go on with my journey. If you excuse me...", she added, walking forward, as if there wasn't anything in her way, but the leader stopped her and said, 

"Were do you think you are going, little one? Do you think it's so easy to get by us, without being noticed?". Then, he got nearer her and, menacingly, he told her, "If you want to go on your journey, unharmed, you have to give us something, you know..." 

"I have nothing valuable!", Alina protested, angrily. "I have nothing but some books and food. Please, let me go!"  
  
"Are you sure?"

"If I had something valuable, I would give it to you right away!", she replied, nervously. "Please, understand me!" 

"Boys, don't you think she would be a good hostage?", the leader said ironically, staring at Alina. 

"Yeah!", the others yelled in unison. 

"Oh, goodness...", Alina thought in despair, with her eyes closed. Automatically, she went to her bag and picked a stick she had, just in case something like that would happen. 

"Oh, look at the tough lady, hahaha!", the leader laughed, loudly. The others joined him. 

"Don't even think in putting one of your filthy fingers in me!", Alina exclaimed, nervously. She was almost shacking, but she was also determined to use that stick if one of those... beings tried to do something against her. 

"You think you can do anything with that?", one asked ironically, getting nearer her. 

"Don't come any further! Go back!", she yelled, angrily, swinging her stick. 

"Or else?", asked the other, getting even more nearer. 

"Don't say I didn't warn you!", she said, hitting him with her stick. 

"Please, St. Elimine, Lord Athos and whoever else who wants to join, protect me!", she thought, in despair, while trying to get away from the bandits, who stayed there petrified for a second when they saw their friend being hit by a young woman. However, their surprise lasted short, and they went behind her, ready to trap her. 

Alina run as much as she could, but she was soon caught by the bandits, again. This time, the thing wasn't so nice. She tried to hit the bandits, while evading their axes and swords. She was thinking she would fall at anytime, when she saw someone... hitting the bandits. She couldn't see it properly, but she was highly thankful by its sudden appearance. 

"Hmmmh... tall, robust, dark, bluish hair... swings an axe a bit carelessly...", Alina thought, sort of examining her new found ally while trying to hit some bandits. "I would say it's Hector, but it isn't him... Could it be...? Aaaahhhhhh!!" 

But she couldn't go on, because something hit her head and she lost consciousness, in the middle of the fight... 

*** 

When she opened her eyes again, she found herself in another place, maybe at an Inn or a house. There were three people, three men, near her, but she couldn't see anything properly. She saw everything a blur, her head hurt, and she felt very dizzy. 

"Is she awake?", one of the persons, a short man with moustache asked uninterested. 

"Yes, she has just regained consciousness", another one replied, this one wearing some casual clothes. 

"Great, so we can go on with our business", the first one said, coldly. Apparently, he was a knight. 

"Hey, stop with that! Can't you see that she's not well yet?!", the third one said, annoyed by the first one's comment. This last one looked like someone important, as the knight didn't replied and lowered his head, showing respect. 

Alina knew she had heard that voice before, but where? Her head was hurting badly, and now her left leg was hurting, also. With an effort, she tried to see better, opening her eyes as much as she could, and that wasn't much. 

"Where... am I?", she asked, finally, with a very weak voice, as if she had awaken from a deep sleep. If she had been seeing herself from another point, she would have had self-pity of herself, that's for sure. 

"I must warn you that she may have some kind of temporal amnesia, so she may not remember who she is, or who are you, or...", the second one, the one wearing casual clothes said, but he couldn't go on talking about his knowledge. 

Alina seemed to regain full consciousness, and she almost jumped from the bed, as she sat down like being hit by a lightening, and exclaimed surprised, with a big smile, 

"Lord Uth.... Marquess Ostia! Nice to see you again!" 

"Hmph!", the knight replied, scandalized by that lack of respect. 

"Why! If I knew it was you!", Lord Uther replied, smiling, surprised that Alina could still remember him, as they barely knew each other. After all, they had only seen each other once, after a battle with Eubans' mercenaries in a castle near Ostia. 

"Seems she has no amnesia", the thin and remaining man said, discarding that diagnosis. 

"I'm honored that you still remember me", Alina replied, still surprised. Then, she asked him, a bit tired, "What has happened? Where are we?" 

"We were in our way back to Ostia when we saw some trouble, and I decided to know what it was", Marquess Ostia told her, calmly. "People says that bandits lurk in that area, so it was time to cope with that matter", he added. 

"And now I know that?!?", Alina thought, annoyed with herself. 

"When I got there, I saw a bunch of bandits attacking someone..." 

"That one had to be me...", Alina said, driving the Ostian knight into a state of despair. How could a complete stranger dare to interrupt Marquess Ostia?!? However, Uther didn't care about that and that just nodded. 

"So you were the one who came in my aid? I'm entirely in your debt! Thank you so much, Marquess Ostia", Alina said, guarding her manners, but talking sincerely. 

"It's alright, you are welcome", Lord Uther replied. "You know, you don't have to keep on calling me that formally. Just calling me but my name is okay" 

"But... Lord Uther, she's a complete stranger!!", the knight cried, scandalized. 

"Irving, stop with that nonsense!", Uther told him, facing him. "She's not a complete stranger, she was my brother's tactician!" 

"And what's with that? You don't know her!", the other replied, still angry. 

"Peace! Don't shout, you two, or it will be worst for her!", the thin man said, trying to end up that argument. 

"Please, don't go on arguing, gentlemen...", Alina dared to say, softly. 

Uther faced Alina again, and apologized by all that fuss. 

"Sorry, Alina, it's just that he watches over me too much...", he said, apologizing. "Ah, but I hadn't introduced you. This one over here...", he said, pointing to the knight, "...it's Irving, one of my advisors" 

"Pleased to meet you", he said, with a disgusting tone of voice. "I also was a tactician when I was younger, one of the bests, but then I found out my true vocation" 

"If you were that great as a tactician, why hadn't you gone and defeated Nergal?", she thought, ironically. There was something about him that she didn't like. It had to be that arrogance and that 'I-know-it-everything' thing that he had that made her think he was a disgusting person. Instead, she just replied politely to his greeting. 

"And this one, ", Uther went on, this time pointing to the other guy, "is Ashton, a physician". 

"His personal doctor", Ashton added, greeting Alina. 

"Nice to meet you, gentlemen", she greeted them, after Uther introduced her as "his brother's tactician, the one that was like a key to defeat Nergal and bring everybody back alive, including the careless of his brother". 

"Now, where are we?", Alina asked, anxious to know where on Elibe she was. 

"We are in Castle Ostia, Alina", Uther relied her, calmly. 

"Wha...t?", she asked, astonished. It was if she was in a dream... but it was reality. 

"We were in our way back home from Etruria to Ostia when we found you", he added, serenely. 

"Ha... And I wanted to get into Etruria...", she replied, still shocked. 

"Anyway, in your current state you won't be able to walk that much", Ashton said. "Call yourself lucky if you can walk today without falling down" 

"Why do you say that?", Alina asked him. 

"Well, you have a big, ugly wound in your left leg, and you hit a stone and fainted, so you also have a wound in your head. I think that you were hit by a bandit, and then you fall down, hitting the ground with your left leg and your head first", the physician said, after having analyzed her wounds while Uther and Irving where arguing before. 

"So I can't leave?", she asked, disappointed. 

"Well, I would suggest you to spend some days resting", Ashton told her, thinking carefully. "It would be better if I could examine you every day..." 

"Well, it's set", Uther said, determined. "She'll stay here" 

Alina, Irving and Ashton stood there, facing the Marquess, shocked by the surprise. Nobody could say a word, they were all frozen by that decision, especially Alina, whose eyes were wide opened. 

"But... Marquess Ostia! You can't do that!!", Irving cried, astonished and annoyed by the young Marquess resolution. How could he host that little brownish-reddish stranger?! He, the Marquess, with that supposed tactician! 

"Why can't I? I'm the Marquess!", Uther replied, annoyed by his advisor's behavior. "You should watch your manners, talking about her like that, in front of her!" 

"I can rest at an Inn. I have some money to stay some days. I can also visit a doctor at the town, Marquess...", Alina replied, trying to sound convincing. She was thankful that he saved her, but staying at the castle was far too much; she couldn't accept that kind of help. 

"Yes, she's right", Ashton approved, quickly. "I can go to the town and see her, so it's not necessary that she stays here". 

"I've already made a decision", Uther replied, firmly. "She's staying there. She isn't in a good shape to go to the town. She won't rest well there, and I know she'll try to escape". 

Alina looked another way, to not meet his gaze. Was she that obvious? She thought of leaving Ostia as soon as she felt better. 

"I won't escape, just let me stay at an Inn, I beg you", Alina implored, nervously. 

"You should think it better, Lord Uther. She has to get out of here", Irving said, coldly. 

"Yes, I can see her at the Inn", Ashton added. 

"Don't waste your time, because I won't change my mind", Uther replied, coldly. "There's plenty of space here, so she can stay, and she will stay". 

"If you say so...", Ashton said, defeated. 

"Marquess Ostia, I don't want to stay here, I don't want to disturb you or your people...", Alina said, still trying to convince him. Her voice was a bit weak and painful, almost as if she were whining. 

"You don't disturb anybody, how can I tell you that?", Uther interrupted her, somewhat brusquely. 

"It's better for you to stay here, and you'll do that. I almost never hesitate about my decisions, I just think it once, and I had already thought about this", he added, softening his tone of voice a bit. 

"But..." 

"There's no place for 'buts'", he replied, quickly. 

"Alright...", she said, softly, saddened by her defeat. 

"Lord Uther, I want to speak to you", Irving said, as if it were an order. 

"Later", he replied. "Now, you have to rest, so we'll leave you alone", Uther told Alina, trying to inspire trust. He was far too worried about the young tactician at heart, but he knew he couldn't show that. 

"Alright", Alina replied, smiling lightly. "Thanks for everything" 

"You are welcome" 

*** 

"Lord Uther, what's happening to you?!?", Irving questioned the young Marquess, ashamed of his behavior. They were at an another room, near the one Alina was staying in. 

"I should ask that to you", the young Marquess replied back. "What's with that behavior towards a lady?" 

"Ha, lady...", Irving muttered for himself. She was just a woman, her behavior lacked some training to be compared to a lady, he thought. Anyway, he didn't reply to that. 

"Lord Uther, the girl's right", Ashton said, "She can rest at an Inn. It's not good for her to stay somewhere against her will because she'll get more nervous and she won't get well soon" 

"It's already decided", Uther replied, as if he hadn't listened to Ashton. "I will talk to her later and she'll understand that staying here it's the best for her, Ashton. If she were at an Inn, she wouldn't rest properly and she would surely stay two days, luckily". 

"Well, you are right in that point...", Ashton replied, but was soon interrupted by Irving, who was in an enraged state. 

"But Marquess! We can't bring to the Castle every harmed peasant we find in our way! She could be a spy!" 

Uther hadn't thought in that, but he had the certainty that Alina wasn't that, for some unknown reason. They had only seen each other one time, and yet he thought she was a trustworthy person, even looking so young. He wasn't going to give his back to her and not help her, now that she sure need to be taken care of... 

"She's no spy, I can assure that!", he replied back to the angry knight. "If you don't like this, you can go and have some days free...", he added, menacingly. 

"I don't like that woman, and I will stay here until she gets out of the Castle, milord", Irving replied, formally, and with a hint of menace in his voice, also. 

"Alright, everything's back to normal now", Uther sighed, relieved. "What will be your course of action, Ashton?" 

"I'm going to revise her later, Lord Uther". 

"Alright" 

*** 

Meanwhile, Alina was in that room, almost sitting in the bed with her back leaning in some comfortable cushions. She wasn't comfortable in the situation she was in, though. She didn't want to stay at Castle Ostia, not because it was ugly or she despised Lord Uther, but because she wasn't used to that kind of kindness. It could be a stupid, weak excuse, but she was too used to look after herself, and she always wanted to do what she pleased with herself. She wanted to start her way to Etruria as soon as possible, and now she knew she wouldn't be able to do it that soon, because they wouldn't let her go until she was in top form. 

She didn't want to be a burden also. That disgusting knight made it quite clear. If there was something that she hated with all her strength, was to be a burden for the others, and she wasn't going to become one. 

She got up from the bed, and looked at herself in a big wall mirror. She sure would look funny for a disguise party. 

Her left leg was bandaged from above the knee to her ankle, and she had another bandage in her head, circling her forehead. And if all that was little, she had a quite miserable expression in her face, as if she were in great pain. 

"Just look at his...", she thought. "Now I see why they don't want to let me go. However, I have to leave this place..." 

She picked her cape, which was laying in a small sofa, and put it over her shoulders, then she picked her wares and opened the door, just to find Lord Uther, the disgusting Irving and Ashton passing by the door at that moment. Obviously, and unfortunately for her, they saw her. 

"Alina, what are you doing here?!?", Uther asked her, trying to control his sudden anger. 

"I... I'm feeling better, Marquess", she replied, softly, looking down. 

"And you where going to escape from here, I guess?" 

"Not escape. I was going to stay at an Inn", she replied, a bit louder than before, which would be a normal tone of voice. 

"And do you think in this shape you can go much further than this?" 

"Yes, I don't feel as bad as I look", she said, but just after she finished that sentence, she had to grab the door of the room to not end up in the floor. 

Uther grabbed her other arm, and ironically, told her, "You aren't that bad, uh?" 

Alina lowered her eyes again and blushed. 

"Alright, I guess I'll have to stay". 

With his help, she returned to her bed. Irving was even more scandalized now, and Ashton tried to calm him down, with little success. After she promised she wouldn't try to escape again, Uther left her alone in her room. Everything was so silent and peaceful... 

"Well, now I have to think in a way to escape from here...", Alina thought, in the silence of her room and in the sadness of her soul... 

***

And? Do you like this? Now do you see why I use Eliwwod's ending? 

S  
P   
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S 

I know this fic can be impossible, but I first started thinking it before I ended the game, and when I saw Hector's fate in the ending, I thought "Mmmh... this can spoil everything". Then, when I read that conversation between old Eli and Hec, I definitely though "This SPOILS everything", but then I made some counts and I thought I could still write it, as they say they don't see each other since Uther's funeral, and the game finishes when the tactician (Alina here) leaves before Eli's "crowning" as Marquess, and he said _everybody_ was coming (that includes Hector), so it can still be possible in Eliwood's route (happening this fic a few months after that –less than 6 months, maybe?). I'm still playing Hector's route, so I don't know if there's something more explanatory about Uther's death in it. 

After all that, I decide to write the fic, anyway, at least as some kind of experiment, to prove my abilities in the "romantic comedy" genre. I don't like to call dead characters from their "eternal rest", though. 

Enough smalltalk, I just wanted to leave this in clear. Read and review, please! 


	2. Escape from Castle Ostia

Chapter 2: "Escape from Castle Ostia" 

A day has passed since Alina found herself in Castle Ostia, after being rescued from a bandit attack by Lord Uther and his men, a disgusting short knight called Irving and Ashton, a physician. 

Earlier that day, Ashton came and examined her, and he said she was better, but she still needed to rest. He took out the bandage she had in her head, and the one in her left leg was shorter than the previous day, yet she still needed some rest, and Lord Uther wouldn't let her go and stay at an Inn, because he feared she wouldn't rest properly. 

Alina remembered Hector's words about his brother, that he almost always took decisions without thinking about them twice, and he was far too correct. She was destined to stay in a bed in Castle Ostia until Ashton said she was in perfect conditions, and judging from the doctor's opinions, that wouldn't be too soon. 

She was there in her bed, thinking about all those things, when she heard someone knocking on the door. She wondered who could it be, as Ashton had already come earlier, and she wasn't that bad to have a full-time medical assistance. Anyway, the door opened, and her surprise couldn't be greater when she saw who was coming, carrying her meal. 

"How do you feel today?", Lord Uther asked her, a bit harshly. Apparently, he was a bit uncomfortable in his role of host, or he wasn't used to tag along women around his age or less. 

"I'm feeling better, Marquess, thank you", she replied politely, smiling. 

"How many times do I have to tell you that you don't need to call me "Marquess" all the time?", he asked her, surprised of her formal behavior. "Just 'Uther' would do", he added, friendly. 

"Sorry, Lo... Uther", she said, correcting herself quickly. "It's just that I'm too used to address you like 'Lord' and as 'Marquess when that short guy..." 

"Irving", he said, interrupting her. 

"Irving", she repeated, correcting her phrase, "is around, and I fear he's coming anytime and will start one of those speeches about respect and authorities that he wishes so much to lecture me", she said, frankly. 

"Don't worry about him, he just looks my back too much and has started to act quite paranoid", he told her, to calm her down about his advisor's matter. 

"I'll try to control myself in front of him, Uther", she said. 

"See? You are learning fast", he said, smiling. 

There was a brief silence between them, and it was then when Alina noticed again that he was bringing her meal. It was an odd thing for her, as she was expecting some servant to bring it. 

"You don't need to bring me my meals...", she said, shyly, staring at the small table he had in his hands. 

Uther looked at it as if he had forgotten he had it. Alina noticed he did, although he just acted normal, saying, 

"I know that, it's just that it's the only moment in the day I have free, and I wanted to talk with you". 

"So you are a 'busy lord', aren't you?", Alina thought mischievously, but remained silent. It wasn't something common that a Lord, more precisely a Marquess, decided to leave behind part of his own free time to chat with a commoner, especially an almost stranger. 

"Anyway, you didn't have to, but I'm grateful", Alina thanked him, smiling. "Now, how I'm going to eat calmly if you are staying in front of me, without eating?", she thought, nervously. 

"Ashton prescribed this food for you. He says its better for your rapid recover", Uther said, handing over the small table to her. 

"I would say it will help to my sudden death", the young tactician thought sarcastically. 

It wasn't a very charming meal, to be sincere. Chicken soup and vegetables weren't her ideal for a meal, but their taste was the worst of all: they tasted like steel or wet wood. 

"This Ashton guy really hates me", she thought, trying to eat that "junk food" (not for its components, but for its taste). "First, he has the brightest of ideas when he said I needed to rest, and now, this!" 

"What were you doing in that forest alone, Alina?" 

Uther's question brought her back to reality. 

"Oh, I was in my way to Etruria", the girl replied, after drinking some of her chicken soup (or wyvern soup, it tasted the same to her). "Maybe someone needs a tactician there, or I could try to find another kind of job" 

"And why don't you stay here, in Lycia? Many people could be interested in your skill", Uther offered, without understanding why she wanted to go to Etruria if she could find something in his land. 

"Well... I always wanted to go Etruria, and since I'm in an aimless journey now, I thought it would be the best opportunity. Besides, I don't want to serve Marquesses, with all the respect you deserve", she said, trying to not offend him. 

"Why? Is anything wrong with people like me?", he asked harshly. 

"Oops... I did offend him", she thought, but instead, she said, "No, anything at all with people like you or Eliwood, but some may want my skill to start a war, and that's something I don't want to do. It isn't in my morals", she said, solemnly. 

"Ah, I see", he just replied. 

"What were you doing in those woods, when you helped me?", Alina asked back. 

"We were coming from Etruria", Uther replied, coming from a thoughtful state. "A meeting with Lord Pent", he explained, briefly. 

"Ah! How is he doing? What about Lady Louise?", she asked, a question over the other, turning her speech in something almost unintelligible. 

"Ah, they are fine", he just replied. "What?", he asked then, sounding as if he was guilty. 

Her face was quite explanatory. She was quite disappointed and also annoyed. 

"You men are all the same!", she replied, at a puzzled Uther. "When someone asks you about someone else, you just reply "fine", and go on with another subject. Let's see, how's Louise? Did she already had her second baby?" 

Uther now felt guilty, with her sudden reaction. 

"Well, not yet. I hadn't seen her. Pent just said they were all alright", he said, a bit strange. Nobody but his family had talked to him like that. 

And Alina noticed her fault quite soon. Her face turned bright red, and she was starting to sweat. 

"I... I'm sorry, Marquess....", she started mumbling, with her head low. 

"You don't need to apologize...", he said, coldly. "That reaction had to be a product of your current state". 

"Yes, sure", she said, almost like a whisper. "Or maybe it was due to the food", she thought. 

"Would you like to tell your family about your current situation? I could send someone with a message", he offered, now staring at the window. 

"Thanks, but I would rather not", Alina declined his offered politely. "They live in a distant land, and by the time they would know about my state, I would be in the other point of Elibe, safe and sound", she added. 

"If you say so...", he said, still looking at the window. "Have you finished with your meal?", he asked then, looking at the bed now. 

"Oh, yes, thank you", she replied, handing him the table, as he was walking to the bed. "Thanks again. You shouldn't have lost your time with me", she said, grateful and trying to mend the "relationship" 

"What I do with me time is my business", he just replied, coldly and a bit brusquely, before closing the door. 

"Great, I spoiled everything", the young tactician thought, dropping herself against the bed. 

*** 

Someone knocked the door again later. 

"Come in", she yelled, thinking that Ashton was coming to check her condition again. 

She was wrong, again. 

Uther came in, now carrying a table with a cup of tea. He had the same expression he had when he left earlier, somewhat annoyed and worried. 

"Ah... thanks", she just said, sitting on her bed. She feared that if she mentioned the fact that he didn't need to worry about her again, he would get mad at her. 

"You don't have to mention it", he replied, a bit coldly. 

"See, idiot? You always ruin everything", she thought, ashamed of herself. 

He got near the bed and handed the table to her. 

"It's another one of Ashton's suggestions", he said, and stayed silent by her side. 

"I hope this one's better..:", she said, although she didn't want to say it. 

That caught Uther's attention. 

"What? You didn't like your meal?", he asked, still standing next to the bed. 

"Oh, it's not that", Alina said, trying to sound convincing. "It's just that my diet is quite different to that meal and so I found it... strange for my tastes", she added, hoping she hadn't offended him again. 

"Now this is interesting", he mumbled, sitting down on the bed. 

"What?", she asked, afraid she hadn't said something wrong. 

"What what?", he asked, acting surprised. 

"I thought you said something", asked suspiciously. 

"No, not at all" 

"Maybe it was just me. Sorry for before", Alina apologized, drinking some of her tea. "It's just that I expressed my mind as if you were just a commoner, I'm sorry for that. It's so strange all this...", she said, trying to find the correct words for her thoughts. 

"It's alright", he said, when she stopped talking. "I'm a normal person before a Marquess, it was only that you were... quite spontaneous, and I'm not that used to that", he said, now talking more freely than before. "You have nothing to apologize for" 

"Well... thanks", she said, still surprised. Her green eyes shone lightly, yet little. 

"Oh, you have that cushion out of place", he said, repairing in and pointing one of the cushions that were behind her pillow. 

"Ah, thanks", she said, looking at it, and realizing that that cushion was the thing that was annoying her. 

"Let me help you", Uther said, moving his arm towards the cushion. 

"No, it's ok", she said, with her teacup in her hand. "Grab this, please", she said, trying to hand the teacup for him. 

What followed that was quite awkward. He tried to grab the cup with one hand, but with the other he still wanted to move the cushion, while she tried to prevent the teacup from falling. Unfortunately, Uther moved his elbow brusquely and touched the teacup, and it ended with Alina covered in hot tea. 

"You are just as clumsy as your brother!!", the young tactician for hire cried, without thinking before talking, while trying to stop her tears. The tea was far too hot, and her t-shirt was totally wet with it, as well as a portion of her skirt. 

"I... I'm sorry", Uther mumbled, awkwardly, not knowing what to do. He gave her a napkin, and got from the bed, saying, "I'll go and look for Ashton". 

"No, I'll be ok", she said, sobbing, holding her piece of cloth out of the contact with her skin. 

"I'm going, but please, stop crying", he said, before opening the door. "It doesn't suit you", he added over his shoulder, shyly, as if he had to say something to apologize. 

"That's easy for you because you aren't the one burnt!", she thought, annoyed, after he got out of the room. Then she realized what he said after that. "Woah, was that supposed to be a compliment? However, with nice words he won't mend this", she thought surprised, while changing her soaked shirt for a dried one. "Anyway, I'm just a brute commoner. How could I shout like that?! If that Irving guy was present, he would have killed me right there", she went on thinking. 

She walked to the window of her room, to catch some fresh air and to order her thoughts. She wanted so much to escape from that place, and now she had another reason to do it: she was ashamed of her behavior. Not that she thought she was a lady, but that she was more polite and well-mannered. 

She was thinking in those things and in the way to escape from that place, when she saw a familiar figure. A falcoknight was flying near the Castle, and it was one she knew quite well. Seems that luck was in her side now... 

"Fiora!!!", she yelled, strongly, waving her hands to her. "Fiora!!" 

The greenish-haired falcoknight started looking at both of her sides to tell who was calling her. 

"Fiora!! Here, at your right!", Alina yelled, excited. 

Fiora now heard her well and went to her meeting, quite surprised of seeing her tactician and almost friend calling her almost desperately at Castle Ostia. 

"Fiora, it's great to see you again!", the tactician greeted her, cheerfully. 

"Oh, my! It's great to see you, also, but Alina, what are you doing here!?", the eldest pegasi sister asked astonished, trying to come from her stupor. 

"I was in my way to Etruria when some bandits attacked me, and Marquess Ostia rescued me, but now either him or his doctor will let me go, because they say they fear I'll not have a good recovery by myself. But you... what are you doing here?", she asked, after re-telling her story briefly. 

"Well, do you remember Sir Wallace of Caelin?", the Ilian girl asked. 

"Yes, I do" 

"Well, in his way to Caelin, he ended up in Ilia..." 

"Haha, he did? That Wallace, always so funny", Alina laughed, interrupting her friend. 

"The thing is that he asked me to find the way from Ilia to Caelin for him, and as it was a great opportunity to gain some experience and money, I accepted. And,", her voice now changed to a suspicious tone, "on the other hand, I can investigate that Hector, he had worthy enough for my little sister Florina! You know, word's on the street that he's interested in her..." 

"You'll never change, will you?", Alina said, somewhat resigned. "You are always looking after your sisters..." 

"That's all I can do as the elder sister!", Fiora said, laughing. 

Alina also laughed, but someone caught her attention. 

"Fiora, is there place for two people in your falcion?" 

"What? You don't remember?", Fiora asked, disbelieving. "You sent me so many times to rescue people in battle!", the falcoknight added, sort of offended. 

"Fiora, you have just saved my life!", the tactician said, in a mix of seriousness and happiness. "Make place for me, I'm going with you", she said, turning back to pick her things. 

"I don't have any objection, but are you sure?", Fiora asked her, afraid of the possible outcome of helping her friend. 

"If it's for the money, don't worry that I'll pay you", Alina said, showing up again, now carrying her wares. 

"That's not me, that's Farina!", the green-haired girl protested. 

"I have to meet her someday...", Alina said, handing her things over to her friend. 

"Alina, this is just crazy!", Fiora whined, trying to put her down. 

"Oh, no, someone's knocking!", Alina cried, nervously. "Come nearer, that's too distant for me!", she complained, trying to get into the falcion. 

"Give me your hand! I can't get nearer, remember that falcions have wings!", Fiora cried, also nervously. 

The door opened, and Ashton and Uther came in, just to find Alina in the window, grabbing Fiora's hand to sit on the falcion. 

"I see you are better from your leg", Ashton said, ironically, but it was a serious irony. 

"So I can leave?", Alina asked, innocently. 

"Not yet", Ashton replied, coldly. "Now, get out of there and return to your bed", he ordered, trying to remain calm. 

"Alright", Alina said, lowering her head, ashamed. She turned back to grab her things from Fiora's falcion, and then she whispered her, 

"Stay around, so we can talk later" 

"Don't worry. I think Matthew's on the castle, I'll see if he can help us", she replied back, not afraid of helping her friend anymore. 

Alina expected to find two angry faces starting at her. Much to her surprise, she could only see one, Ashton's. She couldn't see Uther's face because it was dark where he was standing, so she couldn't tell his expression, but it didn't seem like anger. 

"Seems that it doesn't hurt anymore", Ashton repaired, looking at her. 

"Luckily, I could prevent the soaked clothes from touching my skin, that's why it doesn't hurt", she said, distantly. "When I'll be able to continue my journey?", she asked, suddenly. 

"I would suggest more rest", he replied coldly. "The fact that you had almost escaped by a window isn't enough to let you go. You could just collapse at any time, but it seems that you can't understand that", he added, ironically, before leaving with Uther. 

"I just wonder how much he'll have me here...", Alina thought, trying to stop her tears of sadness... 

*** 

"Psst... Alina!", a voice called from the window. 

There was no reply. 

"Alina! C'me on, I can't stay too long here!", the voice called again, impatiently. 

Again, there was no reply. 

"Great, I'll have to come in", the voice said, now annoyed. With some effort, the figure managed to get into the room, and walked to the bed, finding Alina sound asleep. 

"Alina, I've found help!", Fiora exclaimed, excited, touching her friend. "Man, she's sleeping like a log!", she exclaimed, disappointed. "I'll have to use plan 'B'", she added, sitting in the bed. 

"Alina, Nergal's back!! And so is Serra!!", Fiora shouted, shacking Alina violently. 

"Ahhh! Serra's back?", Alina asked, at the verge of a heart attack. She was sweating, and almost afraid, at least that was how she looked like. 

"Always oversleeping", Fiora said, giggling. 

"It was you?!?", Alina asked, now annoyed. 

"Come on, sleeping beauty, Matthew's in the castle and he's eager to help you", Fiora replied, handing her a bunch of clothes. 

"What's this?", Alina asked, without knowing what she had in her hands. Well, she knew what it was: a ragged cloaked cape, and a bag, but she didn't know what to do with it. 

"Come on, put this and go downstairs, Matthew will be waiting for you there and then you'll go out with him through the 'big door'", the 'flying knight' said, already in the window. "Poor my falcion, he's out of state", she said, staring at her falcion, who was flapping its wings almost desperately, and wanting to land right away. 

"Alright, if you say so", Alina said, putting that ragged cape over her shoulders. Then she put her things in the bag that Fiora gave her before. 

She opened the door cautiously, and then made her way downstairs carefully, trying not to be noticed by anyone. Thankfully, Matthew was just next to the stairs, waiting for her. 

"Ahh... Alina, good to see you again!", the young thief and Ostian spy greeted her, whispering. 

"Matthew, it's also great to see you!", she said, happily. "I'm your debt!", she added, following the boy, who had started walking towards the door. 

"Listen carefully", he said, walking. "I'm supposed to go on a mission, and that nobody will stop us. You go with me until we have passed through the Castle gates, then you do your own", he explained. 

"Alright", Alina nodded, agreeing with that plan. They were almost near the exit to the gardens, passing through a reception room where there were many huge mirrors. 

"Goodness, I really look like Leila with this clothes", the young tactician thought, smiling and looking at her reflection with the corner of her eye. "I should put my hair over my left eye and I could pass as her sister", she said, imagining how she would look like. 

They were almost in the gardens when Lord Uther and Irving appeared, coming from another room.  
"Matthew, what should we do now?!?", Alina whispered nervously, trying to act normally. 

"Keep on walking, don't pay attention, and don't speak, unless someone talks to you", he said. 

"Ah, Matthew!", Lord Uther greeted him, when he realized it was him. 

Matthew stopped walking and turned back. Alina, instead, kept on walking, but Matthew stopped her, grabbing her hand. It was better for her to wait for him, or else it would have been far too suspicious. 

"Ah, milord!", the young spy greeted back, cheerfully as ever. "I was just leaving in a new mission...", he said, but was interrupted by Irving. 

"Hey, who's that one with you?", the knight asked, suspiciously. 

"This one here?", Matthew asked, sort of surprised. He hadn't expected the short knight to notice his companion. "It's my new mate, an apprentice...", he said, saying the first idea it came to his mind. 

"And what's your name?", Uther asked, this time to Alina, while getting nearer to her. Obviously, he was suspecting something. 

"Leil... Lena! I'm Lena!!", Alina exclaimed quickly, instantly. She was too nervous, and hadn't think the answer before talking. Now she had spoilt everything... 

Matthew stood still, from one piece. She could tell that he wanted to burst into tears, but he was trying to control himself. She could also see Fiora, who was watching through the window, covering her face with her hand, as a sign of shame and defeat. Irving was about to explode, due to her impertinence. Uther raised an eyebrow, then he got nearer her and, removing the cloak of her cape from her head, he said, coldly, 

"Nice try, 'Lena', but you should return to your room right away if you don't want to anger me". 

"I...", Alina tried to complain, but she quitted soon, "Alright", she said, whispering and lowering her head. 

"Sorry, Matthew, I didn't...", she started apologizing, sadly. 

"It's alright. I hope I can see you another time, Alina, when you have learnt to lie better", Matthew said, saddened and a bit angry. 

"I'm sorry", she said, before going up the stairs. 

"I still don't know how can you cope with that girl in here...", Irving told Uther, disapprovingly. 

*** 

"How could you say that?!?", Fiora asked Alina, back in the tactician's room. She left her falcion in the ground, and was now siting in the bed. "It was her birthday in a few days time, that's why he got so angry at you!" 

Alina didn't reply. She was almost in tears, evading Fiora's look. She was hugging one of the cushions as if it were a teddy bear. 

"You got nervous, or what?", the green-haired girl asked again. 

"I... yes, I guess it was that", Alina finally replied, without dropping the cushion. "I don't know, I just thought I looked like Leila and then I committed that stupid mistake", she added, angry with herself. 

"The worst thing was that you were a feet outside!", Fiora exclaimed. "And he and that man had to appear!" 

"Don't mention that again that it gives me the creeps", Alina complained, angrily. "I still wonder how it is that I'm still alive..." 

"What will you do now?", the Ilian girl asked, worried. "You can't escape anymore, or you'll drive your host mad" 

"I know that", the tactician replied thoughtfully. "Something will come across my mind. Stay near, just in case" 

*** 

"Well, it's now or never", the young tactician per hire thought, staring at the starry sky. She had made a rope with blankets, and was decided to leave the Castle. After all, she wasn't feeling so bad, and she wanted so much to run away from there. Not that she disliked everybody there (well, with the exception of Irving), but she was being a burden. 

She threw her "rope" through the window, and carrying her things at her back, she started to descend through the rope, without looking under, or she would fall for sure. It was the best time for her escape: it was still night, and she could bet that everybody would be sleeping. It was around two in the morning, so everybody had to be sleeping. 

"Now I have another item for my CV", she thought bitterly. "Blank of bandits, defeated Lord Lundgren of Caelin, Laus forces, the Black Fang, several morphs of different grades of development, Nergal and a dragon, and now this: escaped from Castle Ostia, late at night when everybody's sleeping, with a 'homemade' rope". 

Somebody knocked at her bedroom's door, again. 

"Alina, are you alright?", Lord Uther's voice asked from the other side of the door. 

The tactician felt he blood frozen. Suddenly, she felt she was loosing her balance. 

"Yes, Lord Uther, you don't have to worry about me, I'm alright!", she yelled, while trying to keep her balance in the rope and to sound normal. "Good night!", she added, to convince him she was ok. 

However, she could hear the sound of the door being opened, and some footsteps walking into the room. She was halfway in her way downstairs, so she could neither jump down nor fasten her way upstairs, because she wouldn't make it on time. 

The sound of footsteps approaching was now nearer and clearer. She just closed her eyes, holding the rope tight with her hands. 

"Alina, what are you doing there!?!?!", Uther asked her from the window, looking down. His voice wasn't as annoyed as Alina would have expected, but astonished. 

Alina opened her eyes and looked up, meeting Uther's gaze. Apparently, as his voice showed it, he wasn't angry, but surprised or even worried. 

"I... I'm a sleepwalker", she managed to say, gathering all the innocence she still had. 

Uther stayed there, puzzled. It took him some time to react, until he said, laughing, 

"You... you are quite a rarity. Come on, I'll help you get here again" 

Alina climbed through the rope, feeling awkward and guilty. Near the window, Uther was waiting for her. 

"Come on, grab my hand and I'll pull you in", he offered. 

She grabbed his warm, strong hand and passed through the window with some difficulty, returning again in her room. 

"Thanks", she mumbled, thankful and ashamed. 

"You have no cure", the young Marquess said, staring at her. "Why did you do that? Is it that I was too harsh?" 

Alina didn't know where to look. The Marquess' glance was too strong for her ashamed self... 

"It's not that!", she protested, at last. "I'm nothing but a burden, and I don't deserve your help! When are you going to realize that? I've tried to escape twice today!" 

Not again... With those words, any normal person would have kicked her out of the window. Anyway, Uther just stared at her, interested. After some moments, he replied, 

"You are too tired and nervous. Return to your bed and have a good night sleep, that will make you better" 

Alina was now puzzled. She didn't know what to say or to think, if every thing she did seemed to please him, or so it seemed. 

"Hey, are you alright?", Uther asked her, standing by her side, grabbing her arm. He was now worried. She hadn't emitted any sound, and she was quite shocked, thing that he could guess just by looking her face. "Come on, I won't leave until you are laying in that bed", he said, driving her to the bed by her arm. 

"I... thanks", Alina replied lightly, as it wasn't reality what she was living. "You... you are quite unconventional", she said, now normally, while getting into the bed. "Nobody in his mind would let me stay any longer" 

"You are tired, that's all", he replied, with a small smile, walking to the door. 

He was almost outside when Alina called him. 

"What is it?" 

"What are you doing awake, long after midnight?", she asked, shyly. She had waited for the most suitable time to escape, and she was caught by the Marquess himself... 

Uther smiled lightly, and replied, "I was working". 

Now, Alina was even more amazed than before. 

"Wor... working?", she asked, astonished. "You always work until two in the morning?" 

"Good night", he replied, turning back and closing the door. 

"Uth... hey, wait!", the brownish-reddish haired tactician exclaimed, but nobody answered her call. 

*** 

Hehe... chapter 3 will be better, or so I expect! Please, read and review, you now have more things to criticize! =P 


	3. Meetings in the dance floor

Chapter 3: "Meetings in the Dance Floor" 

"I see you are better from your leg", Ashton repaired, after checking Alina's health, and making reference to her "adventures" of the last days. After her "sleepwalk", she tried to escape Castle Ostia several times, failing in each try. She tried to escape through the back door, but Irving was coming from it. Not that he wanted her to stay, but he had direct orders from Lord Uther to prevent her from escaping, and he had pledged his lance and service to the young Marquess, so he didn't want to disobey him. Then, she tried to go out dressed as a merchant, but the Castle gates were wide shut and Fiora wasn't around. She even tried to escape from the Castle's kitchen twice, once dressed as a maid and the other by sneaking through a little secret corridor, but she had bad luck in both occasions, because in one she was confused with a real maid and in the other, when she was almost out, she bumped into Lord Uther, so she had to return to her bedroom, or her "little prison", as she called it. 

Alina just nodded, not pleased with the ironic remark of the physician. At least, she was allowed to wander around the Castle, but it was not the same. And the food was starting to get better, but... she wanted so much to leave. 

"Your case is strange", he went on, now talking normally, "It's the first case I know that a person who's hit on the head develops a need of... escape, should I call it like that?" 

"Very funny", she said, not pleased at all. He was starting to get disgusting, not as much as Irving, who was intolerable to her. 

"Come on, Alina!", he said, trying to be nice again. "If you just stayed there, you would be much better now! You had a pretty bad punch or whatever in your head! And although you can walk, don't overdo it" 

"Alright, I'll be a 'good girl' and stay here. I won't escape, I promise", she said, trying to sound solemnly. 

"It's not the first time I hear that", Ashton replied, not pleased. "Come on, don't be girlish and rest well", he said, before leaving the room. 

"It's been like a week and I still have to rest well", Alina thought, sarcastically. "At least I can walk around, she said, leaving her room. 

She hadn't walked much when she found Uther at the corridor. 

"Good day, Alina!", he greeted, looking over a bunch of papers. "Aren't you supposed to be in bed?" 

"No, milord", she replied, tired. "Ashton allowed me to have some walks, finally", she said, thinking that she had already told him that the previous day. 

"Ah, I see", he said, thoughtfully. "Alina, I have a proposal for you", he said, all of a sudden. 

"What?", she asked surprised. "Man, this guy just keeps amazing me", she thought. 

"Would you like to come with me to the ascension of the new Marquess Santaruz?", he asked, as if it were a trip around the Castle gardens. 

Alina stood there, shocked. Those were big words. It was the ascension of the Marquess, a very important reunion where all the Lords and important people of all Lycia and maybe from the surroundings were going to be present. And the Marquess of the most powerful House of Lycia was inviting her, a simple, stranger and unconventional commoner, someone with a little problem with panic and escapes. He sure was more unconventional of what she had thought and of what she had heard. 

She just covered her open mouth gently with her hand, while trying to understand what he had said before. 

"It can't be... It can't be... He has to be crazy!", she thought, nervously. "And I thought he hadn't any other thing to amaze more than what I was a moment ago" 

"Alina, are you alright?", he asked her, worried. 

"I'm fine, it's just that's... nonsense!", she said, finally, after searching for the words. "I mean, I'm greatly appreciated for your proposal, but... I can't accept it!", she said, trying to be polite and clear at the same time. 

"Why not? I'm not asking you to murder somebody, so I don't see what's wrong with it", he said, surprised of her reaction. "You could meet with almost everybody! My brother, Eliwood and Lyndis are going, and I think that you can find several of your comrades there!", he said, trying to convince her. 

"I know that, and I'm really in your debt!", Alina protested, nervously. "But I can't accept it! Look at me", she said, pointing at herself, "I'm not of the likes to be in a very distinguish reunion with nobles, Lords and Ladies in their 'habitat'!" 

"Because I _do_ look like a distinguish noble", Uther replied seriously, yet ironically. 

Alina was now more shocked than before, and had to keep a laughter for herself. 

He was right, he didn't look like an average Marquess, and she could have confused him for a mercenary or even a pirate if it wasn't for Hector, who introduced them back in that Castle near Ostia. With his aspect, and especially with those scars he had in his face, he looked more than a commoner, instead of a Marquess. 

"But your case is different!", she complained , once more. "You are a Marquess, while I'm just a nobody". Then, she got silent and thoughtfully for a short while, until she said, quickly and a bit offended, 

"And now that I think about it, you don't allow me to go on with my journey or to recover from my wounds at an Inn, and yet you want to take me to Santaruz!?!" 

That silenced Uther. It was the first time she saw him like that, without a sudden answer for her questions. But it wasn't for too long. 

"I don't allow you to go on your own, but I would take you with my group, so if anything happens to you, you'll have assistance right away", he said, calmer. "And? What do you think? It's not something that you see everyday, and you could have a laugh or two, apart from being with your friends again. You should see how ridiculous a bunch of people look in their ceremonial garbs", he said, trying to make her smile. 

"Haha, you are right", she said, laughing. She was thinking in poor, white dressed Eliwood, the day she left Pheare and the day he became Marquess Pherae. 

"And, will you come?", Uther asked her again, calmly. 

"I... ok", she said, without thinking it twice. "But I don't have a dress! You are not planning in taking me in my working outfit!", she complained, trying to put him down in his offer. 

"Don't worry. I heard that that merchant that accompanied your group is here in the Castle", Uther replied, much to Alina's astonishment. "How was his name? Marinus, Merinus..." 

"Merlinus", Alina corrected, sighing. 

"That's right, Merlinus!", Uther approved, relieved. "I wonder what he wants in the Castle?", he thought, turning back. "See you later, Alina, we are departing tomorrow morning", he said, over his shoulder, while walking in the opposite direction. 

"Hey, wait...", she said, but it was futile, he had already left. 

"Raths! What am I supposed to do now?", she thought, almost desperately. "And why had I say 'yes'?", she wondered, shocked. "Now, I have no other choice that to talk to Merlinus and buy something cheap but distinguished", she sighed. 

Merlinus was in that kind of reception room near the door, where she was caught by Lord Uther and Irving when she tried to escape with Matthew's help. The merchant was surprised to see the young tactician at the Castle, but was happy when he heard she was looking for his 'fine, distinguished wares', as he called his things. 

"I don't carry many dresses, especially night dresses, but you are lucky enough to have this one, Lady Alina", the transporter said, showing her a light green dress. 

"It's the only one you have, isn't it?", Alina asked, looking at the surely expensive dress. It was like a dream for her: the color was nice, it was a simple dress, and the material wasn't too sticky, so she wouldn't have to think that she looked as if she was wearing a dress four numbers below her size. She liked comfortable clothes, or "pregnant woman clothes", as her cousin Karin used to call her outfit. That was easy for her cousin, who just wore the clothes she had since she was 10, in Alina's opinion. Back to the dress, she didn't know how much it cost, but she was sure she had to sell some of her personal property to pay for that, to use it only a few hours in her life. 

"Yes, indeed it is the last one I have, but we can reach an agreement, Dame Alina! Tell me, how much do you have with you?", the merchant asked, guessing her thoughts. 

"Well... a red jewel", she said, almost ashamed, thinking that it wouldn't cover half the dress' cost. 

"That's enough!", Merlinus cried, cheerfully. "And I can even discount you a small percentage from that. After all, it's you!", the man said, excited. "With that money I could re-open my business again! But I'll put it in Pherae now, maybe there is people who can appreciate my finest wares", he added, daydreaming. 

"You are zero tactics, Merlinus", Alina thought, while examining the dress, never forgetting her role as a tactician. "You want to open your own shop in the center of the commercial world of Lycia..." 

"Will you wait for me here, Merlinus?", she asked, picking the dress. "I'm going upstairs to grab the jewel. Thank you", she said leaving. 

"Goodness, having been the acquaintance of the neurotic merchant has its benefits", she thought, while leaving the dress in her bed. She was as happy as a little child with a new doll. "Man, it was a long time since I had the opportunity to wear a dress like this. When was the last time... my fifteenth birthday?", she asked for herself, trying to remember the date. 

"Psst! What's that, a dress?", Fiora asked her, calling her from the window. 

"Ah, Fiora, come in!", Alina greeted the falcoknight. She was grabbing her red jewel from her bag when Fiora called her. 

"Hey, it's a nice one!", she said, staring at it. "What has happened? I think I'm missing something...", she said, naughtily. 

"Hey, not at all", Alina protested, but she corrected herself. "Well, yes, Lord Uther is crazy and he asked me to go with his people to the ascension of the new Marquess Santaruz", she said. 

"What?!? Yes, he's crazy!", the green haired girl replied, worried. "And for what I can see, you are going" 

Alina lowered her glance, and said, "Yes". Then she returned to her normal self. "He told almost everyone would be here, and well, lately I've been somewhat nostalgic, and well, I accepted" 

"Everyone... Maybe Florina goes!", the eldest pegasi sister exclaimed, after thinking a bit. "Mmhh... if only I could find a way to sneak in that reunion..." 

"Oh, goodness!", Alina complained, angrily. "Merlinus said he didn't have any other dresses, but maybe you can get one here! Ostia's the biggest commercial point in all Lycia, and maybe if you have some money you can find something. I could help you with some of my tactic books. You won't get much from them, but that could help you...", the young tactician offered, feeling guilty somehow. 

"Thanks, but don't worry for that", Fiora said, calming her down. "I don't think I'll be comfortable in a long dress. The last time I wore one was in.... think... think...", the falcoknight said, trying to remember the last time she wore a dress "...Think... Ah! It was Ilia's last Harvest Festival, before the snowstorms turned greater each year. Florina was just a small girl by that time...", Fiora said, all of a sudden. "Don't worry. I'm leaving right now, maybe they need some extra guards in Santaruz", she said, calling her falcion from the window. The winged unicorn came right away and stood next to the window, flapping its beautiful white wings. "Good luck, Alina, see you at the party!", she said, already in her falcion. Alina didn't have time to greet her. When she got to the window, Fiora was already away. 

*** 

"Here you have, Merlinus, thanks for everything", Alina said, handing over the red jewel. 

Merlinus' eyes shone brightly when he looked at the jewel. 

"Thanks, Dame Alina, it's a pleasure to do businesses with you", he said, giving her the discount he had promised before. 

"It's a pity that you don't know how to do businesses", she thought about the merchant. 

"Now, I think it's not necessary I ask for the Marquess' help", he said, picking his things. "So long, Dame Alina", he greeted, before going out. 

"Hey, wait!", Uther's voice came from above the stairs. 

However, the merchant was too much in his own thoughts to even hear anything happening by his side. 

"Oh, great", Uther protested, breathing heavily. "I reorganize things and walk in haste to talk to him, and he just goes away" 

Alina giggled. 

"Guess it's my fault", she said, when he turned back to face her. "I bought him a dress, and he thought that was enough to re-open his shop again", she explained. 

"Ah, I see…", he replied, still tired. "Let's see the positive point: I don't have to speak with that merchant", he said, walking upstairs. 

Alina stood there, in the reception room for a while. She didn't have anything better to do, now that Fiora was gone, or she could be chatting with the falcoknight at her room. She enjoyed sitting there and staring at the Castle folks, at least for a short time. Then, she would return to her room. 

She was half her way to her room when she saw, from upstairs, another familiar figure near the gates. 

"Good morning, Lord Hector. Nice to see you again", a soldier greeted the newcomer. 

"Ah, hello", Hector greeted back, returning from his own thoughts. 

He hadn't changed at all since she last saw him (alright, it was a short time since she last saw him). He still swung his axe carelessly, because he almost decapitated his own soldier when he turned back to greet him. Seems that her efforts to polish his style were futile… 

She run down the stairs, trying to look calm, so she wouldn't scandalize Irving if he saw her. Her footsteps called Hector's attention, and he turned back, just to see the "brownish-reddish-haired tactician" in the stairs. 

"Uh?!? Alina, what are you doing here?!?", he asked, astonished by her being at his home. 

"Hec… Lord Hector, I'm so glad to see you again !", she said, greeting her former "subordinate in the tactic area", while trying to see if Irving was around. 

"Forget the diplomatic garbage!", he said, annoyed. "What are you doing here? I mean, how are you?", he said, correcting himself, so he wouldn't seem that rude. 

"I know that! I feared Irving was near, and if he heard me calling you just "Hector", he would have killed me", she whispered, quickly. 

"Ah, so you had already had the honor to meet Mr. Education, uh?", the dark blue haired guy asked, without any enthusiasm. 

"Yeah, you are right", she replied, with the same tone. "Ah, you wanted to know what am I doing here, weren't you?", she asked, now cheerfully. 

"Yes, I can't find any suitable reason to explain your presence here", he said, still shocked. "Not that I don't like it, but…" 

"I know that", she said, smiling. "It was rather strange, and I still can't find a suitable answer for it. Well, the story began when I was walking through a forest and some bandits caught me. I could escape once, but they caught me again, and then…" 

"And then 'Super Uther' came and rescued you, right? I can't understand how's that he thinks he can cope with everything…", Hector interrupted her, summing up what followed. 

Alina laughed all of a sudden. 

"Yes, something like that happened", she said, still laughing. "The thing is that I can't leave now until Ashton says I'm 100% alright. Your brother hadn't allowed me to go and rest in an Inn because he was sure I would escape, and now Ashton says that I hit my head pretty hard against a stone or something like that, and that I still need to rest. So, I'm trapped in this place", she said, breathing heavily, after summing up her story. 

"Man, that's really impressive", Hector stated, after hearing patiently. "I'll talk to my brother. Maybe I can make him change his mind", he said, not very convinced. "I hope he can give me a real, reasonable explanation", he thought. He didn't dislike Alina, but that behavior in his brother was rather strange for him. 

"Good luck, I don't think you'll succeed", she said, tiredly. "See you later!", she waved cheerfully from the stairs. 

"Mmmh… Hector?", she called him, a bit unsure. 

"What is it?", he replied back. 

"If I don't recall wrong, you said you escaped from here, because your brother wasn't in the mood to help openly… Now, tell me, how did you manage to sneak from this place?!?", she asked, very serenely. 

"Well, Matthew helped me and we went through the back door", he replied, thoughtfully, trying to remember well. "Why do you ask?" 

"No, forget it. I had already tried several times with that route", she said, walking up the stairs. 

"You what…?!?", he asked, but she was already upstairs. "Goodness, she had to be in despair to try that", he said for himself. 

"Ah, Brother! So you have finally arrived?", Uther's voice greeted him from behind. 

Hector turned back and found his brother, accompanied by Irving. 

"Ah, hi, brother. Hi, Irving", he greeted back, returning from his thoughts. 

"How have you been doing?", Uther asked him, handing over some papers to Irving. 

"Ah, well. Nothing interesting", he replied, lacking interest. "Hey, brother, tell me, why do you have Alina here?" 

Uther smiled lightly. 

"Ah, have you already seen her?", he asked, without giving that matter any special treatment. 

"Yes, I had talked to her a short while ago", he replied back. "She told me you found her on some woods. Why had you brought her here, to the Castle? It's not something wise to do, with all those spies out there", he said, trying to make his brother understand the magnitude of the situation. 

"Oh, finally someone that sees things as they are!", Irving exclaimed as if he had met some deity. "Seems that your younger brother is more realistic than what you are, milord", he told Uther, trying to sound both respectful and like a "know-it-all". 

"Shut up, Irving", both brothers replied at unison. 

"I thought she was dead", Uther started explaining. "Then Ashton said she was just unconscious, but we were almost here by then. I wasn't going to leave her at the woods", he said. "Or do you think I was?", he said, sounding somewhat menacing and glaring at Hector. 

"No, of course not", the younger man replied, changing his attitude. He already knew what that glance and that change of tone of voice in his brother meant… "But… why don't you let her leave? She's old enough to look after herself…", he suggested, trying to convince his brother. 

"Until Ashton doesn't say that she's out of danger, I won't let her leave", Uther said. "She had important wounds, you know…" 

"Yeah, and now he plans to take her with us to the ascension of Marquess Santaruz", Irving said, in that disgusting tone of voice he had, especially when he said something he shouldn't have. 

"What?!?!?", Hector asked, even more surprised than when he saw Alina. "You can't be serious! You can't expose her like that! Everyone would start saying nonsense things!!", he exclaimed, trying to make his brother to think about that. 

Uther just stayed serene, while watching his brother's pressure going up and up… 

"Hector, calm down", he said, calmly. "What I do with my life, is my problem. I'm old enough to look after myself and I can also look after others, so this is an already decided matter. See you later", he said, turning back and leaving the room, leaving his younger brother with his speech in his mouth and an astonished Irving behind. 

"Brother, every day that passes I understand you a bit less…", Hector thought, staring at his brother's walking figure. 

*** 

"Everyone could say I'm a teenager getting ready for her first date", Alina thought, looking at her reflection in the mirror, getting ready for the 'ascension party'. "Although I had already passed through that", she said, sitting in her bed in Castle Santaruz. While she said that, she started thinking in every failed attempt of boyfriend she had had, all because of her choice of becoming a tactician. Yeah, those guys back at Nodion were quite stubborn… 

The door knocked, and she got up like a spring. She looked at herself one more time, checking everything was alright. She didn't want to hear again Irving's lessons on "Ladies' behavior", "Etiquette" and "Social life Volume 1 – High Society Issue". He had been pestering her with those things all the way from Ostia to Santaruz, and she was eager to either kill him or silence him somehow –that was one of the moments in which she really regretted not knowing the use of swords or lances, or even of a staff, so she could strike him with it several times. 

She opened the door, and found Uther and Irving outside. Irving was rather ridiculous, wearing an outfit that was excellent for Carnival time, in Alina's opinion, because it had too many golden thingies, while Uther was alright, although he seemed much thinner of what he seemed. That's because he hadn't his armor, but a cape over his ceremonial garb, which consisted in a dark blue suit _(note of the writer: think in Eliwood's white clothes in the ending, but instead of white, dark blue)_. 

"Am I alright?", she asked, regretting this time having accepted Uther's invitation. She seemed like a poor sheep at the verge of being sheared. 

"Yes, you are fine", Uther replied, normally. "Shall we?", he said, showing her the way. 

The three of them were walking through a corridor, and soon they reached the dance hall, where the party was being held. Earlier in the morning, the ascension took place. Thankfully for her, Alina didn't have to go. 

They passed through a row of guards, and one caught Alina's attention. She turned back and saw Fiora, dressed with her pegasi-knight clothes, winking an eye to her. 

"Fiora!", Alina exclaimed happily, as if it were a dream. 

"Did you say something?", Uther asked, surprised. 

"No, not at all", she replied, smiling for herself. "Ah, Lyn's there!", she exclaimed, cheerfully. She got separated for them and went to her meeting, as well as the Sacaen girl did, when she recognized her friend. 

"Alina, it's so good to see you again!", the dark green-haired youth greeted her. 

"Same here, Lyn!", the tactician replied, hugging her. 

Irving, watching from the distance, was rather disappointed. 

"I talked to her about a lady's behavior, and she behaves like a commoner", he complained, annoyed. Basically, it was his natural state. 

"Let her be", Uther said, while staring at the image of the two friends being reunited again. 

"I can't believe you are here! What happened?", Lyn asked her friend, surprised. 

"It's a long story", Alina said, walking to one of the room's windows. "Basically, I came here with Lord Uther's group…" 

"What? Those are big words, my friend!", Lyn replied, surprised. "How did you get there?" 

Briefly, Alina told Lyn her story, including her escape attempts. 

"Wuau, it's so odd… at least you are here, and that's what counts!", she said, trying to organize her mind. 

"Well, let's stop talking about me. Now tell me about you! Any news to tell this wandering friend?", Alina asked, curious and excited to get the latest gossip. 

"From where can I begin…?", the Lorca girl started, thoughtfully. "Wil's at Caelin, he's training new archers. Florina's still shy around men, Rath disappeared… again. I don't know what else I can tell you! You'll see many of the guys here, so I don't want to spoil anything…" 

"Had you made any new friends?" 

Lyn got serious, and that was something odd in her. 

"Well, not really. They have other interests, and they all know each other from before, so I'm like the 'odd one out'. I try to not pay much attention to that, but it's stronger than me. And I miss my plains so much… I don't know how much time I'll cope with this…", she said, getting a bit sad. "Hey, wait for me, I think I've seen Priscilla around, and I'll bring Florina, too!", she added, excited, and walking to the other point of the dance hall. 

Alina turned back and faced the window. Stars. It was a starry night, and staring at the horizon or the night sky was one of her favorite hobbies. It helped her so much to think in many things… 

"Seems that someone left the gates open in Heaven and the angels came to Elibe", a voice flattered her. She already knew what that meant… 

"Hi, Sain", she greeted the green clad man back, while turning back. 

The cavalier stood there in surprise. 

"Alina, you are always breath-taking!", he said, mending his error. 

She giggled. "You'll never change, will you Sain?", she asked, cheerfully. 

"Sain, what are you doing there? Come and admit your obligations, and stop harassing that lady", Kent said, walking towards Sain. "Ah… Alina?", he asked, also surprised when he could see her better than from afar. 

"Hi, Kent", she greeted back, somewhat seriously, but also with that nostalgic tone that people use when they are reunited with a person who they know things aren't clear yet. At least for her, because Kent never paid too much attention to those things… 

Both of them stared at each other for a short time, like wanting to read the other's mind through their looks or even their eyes. That made Alina feel a little uncomfortable. 

"My obligations?", Sain asked quickly, playing offended. He had already seen that change in Alina, and didn't want her to feel bad. "My obligation is to flatter pretty girls like this one! It would be a sin if I don't do that!" 

Alina giggled again, returning to her previous state, or so she tried. 

"Enough, Sain, we have work to do! Alina, it's been a pleasure to see you again", he said, grabbing Sain from one of his shoulders, and greeting Alina somewhat respectful and coldly. 

Alina stared at them while they were walking through the Hall. Neither of them had changed. Sain, always flirting, and Kent… Kent was an already lost cause for her. He would never repair on her, unless Lyn told him to do so. It was so sad to realize that every time she saw him… 

"Alina, look who have I found!", Lyn's voice returned her to reality. 

She brought Priscilla and Florina with her. 

"Alina, I would never thought of finding you here!", Priscilla said, somewhat shyly. 

"Uhm… Hi, A…Alina. Do you remember... me, don't you?", Florina managed to say, grabbed to Lyn's arm. 

"Hi, Florina! You haven't changed much!", the tactician said, smiling. "I remember everyone, you know. Have you seen your sister? She's back at that door", she said. 

"Ah, Fiora! I'll go later, thanks", the youngest pegasi sister thanked. 

"Hey, have you been with Sain and Kent? I saw them passing through here", Lyn asked, sitting next to her. 

"Yes", she replied, smiling. "Sain tried to flirt with me… again, and Kent… he's like always", she said, getting a bit sad. "If you ever marry him, Lyn, don't let me know until you have five children, yes? It's still sad to let him go…", she said, after being thoughtful for a brief moment. 

"He's not my type, you know that…", the Sacaen girl started protesting, but then she stayed silent. "Hey, look! Pent and Louise are there, with their little baby!", she said, pointing to the young couple. 

They were chatting with Uther, so Alina knew that at least they wouldn't ask her about what she was doing there. She waved them with her hand, maybe later she could go and talk to them. 

"Oh, look, there's… Erk!", the tactician exclaimed, raising a big smile. She got up and went where the young mage was. 

"Ah! Erk!!!!!! It's been so long!!!!!!!", the tactician exclaimed happily, hugging her "honorary little brother" -as she used to call him- so hard that he was about to collapse. 

"Hi, Alina", he managed to mumble, using the little air he had left. "Could you let me breath, please?", he asked, as she didn't make any sign of letting him go. 

"Ah, sorry", she said, ashamed, and quitting her arms from him very quickly. "Hey, how are you doing? Do you miss me?", she asked, winking an eye. 

"I've been doing well, only that now my studying is a bit shortened by Pent's baby. Sometimes I have to help around with that", he added, sort of embarrassed. 

"What? Are you ashamed of doing some babysitter work?", the tactician joked. Knowing Erk, she changed the topic quickly. "Hey, tell me, do you still go on with that escort work of yours?" 

"Only if Lord Pent suggests it", he replied. "I fear Serra tries to contact me again…", he said, sort of resigned. "Sorry, Lord Pent's calling", he apologized, watching his master waving to him. 

"It doesn't matter. You won't get rid of your "honorary big sis" that easily", she said, giggling. 

She returned with Lyn, Priscilla and Florina, just to find Hector and Eliwood with them now. Eliwood was wearing that white outfit again, and she tried to contain her laughter. The day she left Pherea was one of the most funniest days in her life. Thankfully, Eliwood was comprehensive and he understood her 'laugh attack'. Hector was wearing something similar to his brother's suit. 

And now, again, Alina was about to suffer another "laughter attack". Fiora was next to them, in her guard job, trying to analyze Hector's behavior towards her little sister. So, while Eliwood was talking about his new life as Marquess Pherae, the attempts of Marcus to investigate any girl around his age for him, and Isadora's progress, Fiora was starting at Hector cautiously, sometimes suspiciously, sometimes glaring at him, and the only one that realized that was Alina. She had to do great efforts to look calm and serene, as a lady and Irving's good pupil. 

Then, she was left alone, as everybody had to go on with their protocol activities, like greeting incoming Marquesses, in the case of her former Lords, and the others had to either protect them or talk to more people. 

She was staring at the guests. Uther was right: she was having more than a laugh or two. Plus, seeing her former comrades face of surprise when they saw her was more than funny. Lucius, Oswin, Rebecca, Marcus and Lowen's faces were quite memorable. Especially Lowen, who took a bit more of time to distinguish her; his fringe was even longer than before… 

"Oh, my… By St. Elimine! Look who's here!!", a very particular voice, very difficult to forget, yelled in Alina's ear. Unfortunately, Alina knew what that meant… 

"Hi, Alina! It's me, Serra, do you remember me? Of course you may remember me, I'm so difficult to forget, or that's what everyone says of me!", the pink haired outspoken cleric greeted Alina. 

"Hi, Serra", Alina replied, sort of resigned. 

"Oh, you don't have to be so shy! Social positions don't mean anything to me! We can still be friends! Oh, first being under the rule of the tactician that freed Elibe from Nergal, and now… I'll serve you again, forever!", she added, almost daydreaming, although it was already night. 

"Serra, what are you talking about? I'm not recruiting anybody for any War. Instead, I'm looking for a job!", the young tactician protested, sort of annoyed. 

"What? So it's not true? Naaahhhh, you must be hiding it", the cleric said, confused. "Come on, you can tell me all about that. You can trust in me", she charged again, with that never-ending energy she had. 

"Again, Serra, I don't know what you are talking about!!", Alina complained, reaching her last level of patience. 

"But… it can't be! It has to be true!", the cleric whined, disappointed that her thought was false. However, she tried for the last time. "Aren't you Lord Uther, Marquess Ostia and Hector's brother, fiancée?" 

Alina stood there, even more puzzled than before. "Eeek!", was her first thought, but she controlled herself to avoid saying that expression. 

"What?!?!? Who's saying that?!?!", she asked, in a state of real anger. "If he's saying that, I'll commit a sortilege with the Manni Katti", she thought, staring at Lyn, trying to calm herself down. 

"All the aristocrats", Serra mumbled, feeling sorry. "I thought it was true, as they were saying that, and you came with him…", she said, lowering her head. She had never seen the tactician in that state, and she was afraid Alina was going to say anything bad to her, a 'poor St. Elimine servant'. "Sorry, I have to go. I have to see Erk again", she mumbled, walking fast. 

Just then, Sain appeared. That gave Alina an idea. 

"Sain!", she called him, still annoyed. 

"Yes, ma'am!", he said, turning back to her side. 

"Go and crush Serra with your sword!", she said, pointing to the cavalier's weapon. "It's the last thing I aske from you as a tactician!" 

Sain looked at her pitifully. 

"Sorry, Ally, but if I do that, she won't let me go for the rest of the night", he said, with a very painful tone of voice. "See you later, Ally", he said, walking to another point of the room. 

"Bwawahhh! I wish I could use a sword!!!", the young tactician whined, in despair. 

Then she walked to one of the windows, this one lead to a balcony, but she stayed in the dance hall. 

"Hey, Alina, what's the matter?", Lyn asked her, walking to her meeting. 

"Had you heard that rumor?", she asked, still angry. 

"I… yes", Lyn replied, feeling sorry for her friend. "Forget about it, some of this folks are that stupid, and others just repeat what they had heard. Come on, cheer up!" 

"It's not that easy as it sounds", Alina said, trying to wash away that incident. "And, what do you think about this party?", she asked, changing the topic. 

"This? Well… it could be better. I mean, it's boring! If you dance, you have to dance nicely and slowly… Parties in my tribe were much funnier, and…", Lyn started her rant, bored, but some noises caught the two girls attention. 

Three nobles were running along the dance hall, quickly and afraid. They passed along the girls, and kept on running. Shortly later, Uther came running, very angry and, obviously, he was chasing those three running nobles. 

"Seems he had also heard the rumor…", Lyn said, looking the guys running. 

"Yes…", replied Alina, still staring that scene, and lost in her thoughts. 

*** 

"Ah, Alina", Eliwood greeted her back. He was chatting with Hector, Priscilla, Erk, Florina, Rebecca and Sain when she appeared with Lyn. 

"Hi, again, people", she replied back, more relaxed. 

"Look, the dance is starting!", Sain noticed, listening to the soft waltz sounding in the background. "Rebecca, shall you grant me the biggest honor in all of Elibe, to have this dance with you?", he asked, using all his gallant skills. 

"Oh, Sain", Rebecca said, as a complaint. "Oh, alright", she agreed, not knowing why. 

"He'll never change", Priscilla said, laughing. Fortunately for her, she hadn't paid much attention when he started his flirting, and then, he was focused in dating Rebecca. 

They stood there, chatting for a good time. Suddenly, Alina felt someone grabbing her arm and pulling her to the dance floor. When she realized what had happened, she was already there, dancing with Uther. 

"Don't you think you are missing something?", she asked him, suspiciously, as he started guiding her. 

"Ah, the 'Do you dance?' part?", he asked, caring little about that formality. 

"Hmph!", Alina complained, but went on dancing. "Wasn't it that you wree worried about my health?", she asked, curiously. "My leg is supposed to be resting" 

"Ashton said you were alright from your leg injury, and I trust in him, so there's no problem with you dancing", he said, grinning. 

"Raths!", Alina cursed, annoyed. "Had you heard the rumors?", she asked him, seriously, all of a sudden. 

"Yes, I have", he replied, coldly. 

"And why are you dancing with me, then?!? You could have invited any of those noble girls, who I can tell are desperate to dance with you. No one will believe us!", she complained, trying to make him think in the madness he was getting her into. 

"They just want to dance with the powerful ruler, you know", he objected. "Come on, I just wanted to have some fun!" 

"The Marquess of the most powerful House in all Lycia, head of the Lycian League… everyone will think I'm here because of your position, while I'm nothing more than the hostage of your physician and also yours, in a way!", she went on ranting. 

"If we have to talk about achievements, then I'm a worm compared to you!", Uther said, starting to get tired of that discussion. "You were the one that guide the others make them defeat Nergal. I was just talking to nobles in the meanwhile". 

"Ha, 'guide the others'", she replied, ironically. "Don't make me laugh! I just told them what I thought was better to do in certain situations, and yet, they did what they wanted several times! Apart from that, you are a strong public figure, while I'm a nobody! They'll all think I'm a pretty thing!" 

"A pretty little thing", he corrected. 

Alina looked at him puzzled. 

"What? I just filled the saying… Oh, come on, forget about that!", he said. 

"I just hope you have a good excuse to end with that rumor", she said, saddened. 

"Enjoy this night, young tactician". 

He was right, she thought. She couldn't do anything to end that blasted rumor, so she had to do as if it never existed. Much to her surprise, she found herself comfortable in Uther's arms. He wasn't a bad dancer, against what she had thought before, and she felt much better dancing with him. So, she closed her eyes for a brief moment, and went on dancing, with a little, almost hidden smile in her lips… 

"Hey, Hector! Your brother isn't a bad dancer after all", Lyn joked, cheerfully. 

The rest of the group were watching the rare couple dancing, as well as many others did. However, the most surprised was Hector, he would have never expected something like that from his brother… 

"Why would he be bad? The fact that we are huge isn't an impediment", he said, trying to act normally. "Do you want to try with me?", he asked then, challenging. 

"Thanks, but I'll pass. I don't want to spoil Alina's performance", the Sacaen girl turned down the offer, giggling. 

Everyone laughed, except Hector. 

"Hey, want to see? Florina, come with me!", he said, a bit brusquely, grabbing the light purple haired pegasiknight. 

"I… er….", Florina tried to say. To make matters worse, Fiora was glaring at Hector so furiously, that anyone could have said that she was casting Fire just with her glance. 

Unfortunately, for the young Lord, the waltz finished right there, and Florina managed to escape and hide behind Lyn. 

As soon as the music finished, Uther left Alina and went to another direction, leaving the poor tactician puzzled at a side of the dance floor. Quickly, she "retreated" to where Lyn, Florina, Priscilla and Fiora were. 

"Woah, how does it feel to dance with a Marquess, Alina?", Lyn joked, always cheerfully. 

"Strange", the green eyed tactician replied, as coming back from a dream. "I just wish he hadn't do that…" 

"Why not?", Fiora asked, curiously. 

"Because I didn't like it with all those people around!", Alina replied, blushing. 

"Hey, what's that behind the curtains?", Florina asked, afraid. "I hope it's not a bee!" 

They all turned and stared at the curtains. Evidently, there was someone behind them, but who? 

"I wish it's not an spy…", Alina said, tired. 

Suddenly, the curtains opened a little and Erk showed his head out of them. 

"Is she gone?", he asked, slowly. 

"Who, Erk?", Priscilla asked, surprised of finding Erk's head right next to her. 

"Erk!! Where are you? EEEEERRRRKKKKKK!!!", Serra's voice could be heard even outside the Castle. "Oh, there you are, Erk! So you were hidden, uh? Oh, come with me, Erky! I'll introduce many important people that someone of your likes will never be able to meet by traditional ways!", the cleric said, coming to where he was, and guiding him, grabbing his hand. 

The poor mage just followed her, resigned, while the girls couldn't stop their giggles. 

*** 

The party was about to end, and almost everyone was together to say their good-byes. 

"Well, at least I could see all of you again", Alina said, making a balance of her night. 

"I knew I would see you again!", Eliwood said, thinking in her parting, before he ascended his father's place. 

"Well, it could be easier to find me if I just stayed in Lycia, but I'm a travelling tactician, so you never know where I will be", Alina joked, giggling. 

"Hector, I'm leaving", Uther said, coming to the group. "Alina, shall we?", he asked her, puzzling her for the 'she-didn't –know-what-time' in the night. 

"I… well, yes!", she agreed. "I'm very tired. What I want more now id a bed", she joked. "Everyone, I wish I can see you again sometime", she said, making a "general greeting". 

"I'm going later, brother", Hector said. "I want to talk with the others a little more". 

"Well, if you want to stay…", he said, shrugging. "Everyone, good night" 

"Good bye, I hope to see you again!", Alina greeted back, touched. 

"Good bye!", the others replied. 

The group stayed there, watching the strange couple walking ahead. They could even see how Uther placed his cape over Alina's shoulder, despite her negative, as she was sort of discussing. 

"I can't believe it", Hector, said, as if it were a dream. "He seems like a child with Alina around…" 

"What? You don't approve that?", Eliwood asked, surprised by his friend's statement. 

"It's not that! It's just that it is strange…", he replied, puzzled. "They seem totally different people, and yet… On the other hand, it's Alina! Alina, our tactician! I can't see her as anything but that!" 

"That's the point!", Lyn complained, angrily. "Nobody saw her as anything but as a tactician, a living tactic book lending her help uninterested!" 

"Lady Lyndis, your grandfather wants to talk to you", Kent interrupted his liege, bringing the important message. 

"Oh, I'm coming", she replied him. Then she charged against Hector again, "Hey, let them be. Your brother should also deserve someone like Alina, shouldn't he? What fo you think, Kent?", she asked suddenly. 

"About what?", the crimson haired guy replied confused, as he seemed to pay little attention. 

"Aout Lord Uther and Alina. She deserves someone worthy, caring, someone whose only glance can make you feel better…", she said, trying to make Kent realize that Alina liked him, sometime. 

"Hey, that's not my brother!", Hector complained, seriously. "His only glance intimidates you at daytime, scares you at night, and makes you laugh after he wakes up! Of course, you have to run after doing that", he said, laughing. 

Kent stood thoughtfully for a while. 

"Well, yes, she deserves that and more. She took great care of you and of all of us…", he said, to add next, "Come on, Lady Lyndis, your grandfather is waiting" 

"Alright, alright, I'm going", she said, dropping any hope to make him realize Alina was after him. "See you, guys!", she said, before leaving with the "crimson shield" 

"Poor Alina, he'll never repair on her", Eliwood stated, staring at Kent. 

"I just hope she won't stay with my brother because Kent never saw her…", Hector said, bitterly. 

"How can you doubt of her like that?!?", Fiora asked, scandalized. "Now this is my chance", she mumbled, chasing Hector with her silver sword. 

*** 

"And now, I put my pajamas on and… sleep!", Alina thought, eager to put her head on the pillow. 

Just then, someone knocked at the door. 

"Come in!", she yelled, sleepily. 

The door opened and Uther came in. It was a normal thing for her at that rate. 

"Sorry, Alina, to bother you at this time…", he started saying. 

"It's alright. Come in, I'm still with my dress", she said, yawning. 

"I came for my cape…", he said, searching for it with his eyes. 

"Oh, your cape!", she exclaimed, sorry. "Forgive me, I forgot completely about it", she apologized, picking it from a closet. "Here you have", she said, handing it over to him. 

"Ah, bed!", she said, laying on it, while he picked the cape. 

"Tough day, wasn't it?", he said, starting a topic of conversation. 

"Yes… it was pretty tough", she said, very tired. 

"Well, good night", he said, a bit awkwardly. 

"Uther", she called, weakly. 

"Yes?", he said, turning back, sitting down in the bed. 

He could see the young tactician almost asleep. He still wondered how she had energy left to talk. 

"Why do you look after me so much?", she managed to say, making an effort to not fall asleep while talking. "Is it that you…" 

"Me what?", he asked, not facing her. 

There was no answer. 

He turned back, and found the tactician sound asleep. She looked quite cute in his opinion, with her brownish-reddish hair over her face, and her long eyelashes looking darker than what they were. 

He stayed there, just staring at that stranger, thinking in many things, that only he knew… 

*** 

Uff! Long chapter, wasn't it? Sorry, once I started, I couldn't stop. ^_^ I hope this one doesn't suck, it looked so cute in my head. On the other hand, "The New Girl" fic influence got me, at least in the Fiora-Florina-Hector part =P 

Hope you enjoyed this one, as I enjoyed writing it. See you! 

Now, I think that I'll delay more in writing my fic, so be patient (if there's someone out there reading this, that is =P. Oh, well, at least I have my loyal reviewer, thanks Harunohi!)


	4. Love blooming in the capital of spies?

Chapter 4: "Love blooming in the capital of spies?" 

"Lord Hector! Lord Hector! Please, get up right now, it's urgent!!", Irving's shouts resounded in the young man's ears. It wasn't the best thing to wake up someone, especially if those screams were accompanied by Irving pulling his arm as if there were no tomorrow. 

"What is it, Irving?", he asked, annoyed, still in the 'fifth level of sleep'. "You forgot I'm your liege's brother, that now you treat me like an stranger?", he added, yawning. 

"It's about your brother!", the advisor went on, at the verge of a heart attack. "I can't find him anywhere!" 

"What?", Hector asked, deeply annoyed. He got up from his bed and took a look around. His brother was supposed to be sleeping in the bed next to his, but the bed was empty and already done. Or as if no one had used it. 

"Calm down, yes?", Hector said, thinking where his brother could be. "Give me ten minutes, and then we go on his search, yeah?", he said, more menacingly than helpful. 

"Yes", Irving mumbled, still shocked. 

Right after Hector was ready, they went on Uther's search. If it was for Irving, every cavalier from all of Elibe would be searching for his Marquess… 

However, Hector went straight to one place, after hearing that his brother wasn't in the places he would have expected. He went straight to Alina's room. After knocking for several times, without having any answer, he opened the door gently, shutting Irving's mouth with his left hand, because the advisor was complaining too much about everything. 

The scene they found puzzled them, but as they have never been before. Both Uther and Alina were laying in the same bed… completely dressed, with the clothes they had the previous night. Only that Alina was covered by Uther's cape. 

Hector made a sign to Irving and to Ashton, who had just joined the searching, to leave the room, and closed the door as silently he could in his amusement. 

Anyway, the sound of the door closing was enough to wake up the sleeping couple. It took some seconds for them to realize that there was someone else in the room, although each one was sure they were in their correct room. 

Alina rubbed her eyes, still sleepily, and found herself with her night dress, and then she realized she still had Uther's cape. She moved her head slowly, just to find Uther's gaze, who evidently was doing the same: trying to guess where he was… 

"AHHHHH!! What are you doing here?!?!?!?", Alina yelled, jumping from the bed. "This is MY room!", she added, very shocked by that… surprise. "Don't tell me that… What are you doing here?!?!? Get out! Get out!!", she started yelling angrily, striking him with her pillow several times. 

"Wha…? Hey, stop with that! You are striking very hard, it hurts!", he complained, trying to grab the pillow, but failing at each time. "You don't think that I am of those likes, don't you?!?", he asked, angrily at her. 

"What are you doing here, then?!?!", she asked, even more angry than him, still using her pillow as a weapon. 

"Hey, calm down! Stop with that!!", he yelled, evading one of her strikes, while trying to walk over the bed to grab that pillow. Instead, he got to her, and grabbed her by her wrists, making her drop the infamous pillow. 

"Will you calm down now?", he asked, still angrily. 

"Ahhh, it hurts!", she complained, trying to pull her hands out. "This hurts!" 

"Oh, because you weren't the one receiving all those 'pillow punches'!", he exclaimed, sarcastically, and letting her go. 

Alina lowered her head, ashamed. After all, she realized who she had before her, although he was just a simple human… 

"I'm sorry", she mumbled, still angry, too. "But what are you doing here?", she asked, still uncertain about his presence in her room. 

"I guess I fall asleep here…", he said, as confused as she was. "I didn't mean to stay, as I didn't want to hurt you", he said, apologizing, after noticing that Alina was rubbing her wrists, making a glance of pain. 

"You should reconsider your strength", she said, annoyed. "By the way, I didn't want to hurt you with my pillow, also", she apologized, too. 

"It's alright", he just replied, picking his cape. "You also have some strength, after all", he said, now going to the door. "Guess Irving must be searching for me at this rate", he said, sighing. 

"Oh, no! He'll now kill me for this!", Alina exclaimed, thinking in Irving's possible lecture for the journey back to Ostia, if she was going to return with them. 

"I'll try to put him far from you, so you don't have to hear him", he offered, funnily. 

"I'd owe you my sanity if you do that", Alina said, resigned. 

Uther was next to the door, but he seemed uncertain to open it. Instead, he just stared looking at Alina, who was doing the same, until she lowered her head, sort of ashamed, and started picking her things from the closet. As she did that, Uther returned from his thoughts, and left the room. 

*** 

The Ostian group was ready to leave, and only Alina was missing. So, even after Irving's attempt –attempt because both Uther and Hector glared at the short advisor, and he already knew what that meant, so he desisted, wisely- of lecture about responsibilities and commoners, Uther went in her search… 

"Oh, Lyndis", Uther greeted the Sacaen lady, who was walking along the corridor that led to Alina's room. "Have you seen Alina? We are about to leave…" 

"No, I haven't seen her", Lyn replied, after greeting him back. "I was going to her room to talk a bit with her. I hadn't thought you were leaving so soon…", she said, saddened. 

"Well, yes.", he replied, walking by her side. "I have to return to Ostia, and Irving says Alina needs to rest more, as she had an important wound, or so he says", he said, starting to distrust in his doctor advice, because Alina tried to escape many times… 

"Yes, she told me a bit" 

They reached her door, and Lyn called, but there was no answer. She called again, and then she opened the door. The room was already tidy, and there was no trace of Alina or her wares. 

"Where could have Ally gone?", Lyn asked, after looking around. 

"Ally?", Uther asked puzzled. "Is that her nickname?" 

"Ah, yes", Lyn replied, naturally. "I thought you already guessed that" 

"Ah, well, we hardly address each other", he said, awkwardly, while sitting in the bed. A small sound, like a moan, could be heard. 

"Did you hear that?", he asked, getting from the bed quickly. 

Lyn nodded, afraid. 

"It came from under the bed", he said, kneeling on the floor. "I'll take a look" 

What he found puzzled him… and made him laugh, at heart. Alina couldn't say the same. He looked under the bed, and he 'bumped into' her face, almost. Their eyes, their nose, everything meeting at the same level, for a short moment. She closed her eyes, quickly, and blushed, at the extent of feeling her cheeks burning like Elfire, or even Forblaze. Fortunately for her, Uther didn't see that. 

"What had you found?", Lyn asked, curious. 

"I've found our little runaway friend", he said, ironically. "Come on, Alina, get out", he said, giving her his hand. 

"Goodness!", she complained. "Why is it that you always find me?!?", she asked, annoyed, cleaning her clothes with her hand quickly. 

"Hahaha. Trying to escape again?", Lyn laughed, tempted. 

"It's not funny", Alina said, sort of glaring at her. 

"I was wondering when you would try to escape again!", Uther joked, ironically. "Come on, everyone's waiting for us". 

"Can't she come with me to Caelin?", Lyn asked, thinking she had to do something for her friend. 

Alina's green eyes shone brightly and happily. Lyn surely had good ideas… 

Uther thought for a while, then he said, "Well, I don't know… she has her things in Ostia…" 

"Excuse me, milord", Ashton interrupted, coming into the room. "Will you take longer? I had already gave Irving three relaxing pills, and he's still mad at…" 

"Me", Alina completed the phrase, fed up of that little, disgusting advisor. 

"Tell him I am going", Uther said. Alina's wish to leave Ostia was about to be granted… 

"I don't want to be rude, but I overheard something", Ashton started to say. "I would suggest that Alina needs to rest more, and Caelin is further than Ostia, and all her things are there, so she has to return, anyway", he said, all of a sudden, without paying attention to the glares the young tactician was giving him. 

"But…", Lyn said. 

"Sorry, Lady Lyndis, but I can't allow that. It would be against my medical promise", the physician said, without caring in Alina's point of view. 

"And against my will", Alina said, offended. 

"Well, Alina, seems it's goodbye, again", Lyn said, saddened. "I hope I can see you again, someday" 

"You bet", Alina said, trying to act normal, but she was at the verge of crying. "See you", she said, hugging her both noble and Sacaen friend. 

"Good bye, Lyndis", Uther said, leaving the room with Ashton. 

Lyn accompanied Alina to where the Ostian group were. They hugged for the last time, and after saying their good-byes again, Alina left. She could only cry after leaving Santaruz, and she was a sea of tears when she saw a strong, yet warm hand giving her a handkerchief. 

*** 

The journey back to Ostia was quick and silent. Fortunately for Alina, Irving hadn't pestered her through the journey, and Ashton had the good judgement to not speak to her, or she would have kicked him, being generous. 

A day has passed since they returned, and it was time for Ashton's daily visit. 

"I'm impressed", the physician said, trying to sound friendly and cheerful to regain the almost lost "friendship" he had with his patient. "You are almost recovered, I would dare to say" 

Alina's green eyes shone like they have never shone since she came into the Castle. 

"So, I can leave…?", she asked, as if it were a dream. 

"Not yet", Ashton said, still doubting. "Why don't you go for a walk through the Castle's gardens? If you don't overdo it, and if you seem alright after that walk, I would allow you to leave…", he said, slowly, so she could understand him well, without any misunderstood. 

"Really?", Alina asked, her big green eyes bigger than ever, as a product of her surprise. She was starting to think she was going to stay in that Castle until the physician died… 

"Yes", Ashton said, resigned. "I would still recommend more rest, but you want so much to leave, that I can't force you to stay any longer. Moreover, this is no hotel, so you'll have to leave, anyway. 

"I'm glad you finally realized that!", Alina thought, but instead, she smiled. "I'm going out right now", she said, getting out of the bed and rushing to the door. 

"Eh?!? What? Hey, come back!", Ashton exclaimed, trying to stop the excited tactician, who was already outside her room. 

*** 

"Brother, finally I find you!", Hector exclaimed, exhausted. 

Uther looked at him without knowing what his brother was talking about. 

"What is it?", he asked, surprised. "I've been here in my study all day, so I can't understand you couldn't find me before" 

"Anyway", the younger one replied. "We have to talk", he said, seriously. 

"About what?", Uther asked, leaving the papers he had in his hand over his desktop. "You aren't going to say you renounce to the succession line to become a mercenary, or to fight in the arenas, are you?", he asked, half in joke, half seriously. 

"That would be you", Hector joked back. Then, he turned serious again. "We have to talk about Alina". 

Uther stayed silent for a short while. 

"What's wrong with her?", he asked, worried, but trying to hide it. 

"Nothing. What's wrong with you?, I would say", Hector asked, coldly. 

"With me? Nothing. Why do you ask?", the Marquess asked, scandalized of his younger brother's questions. 

"Brother, we may not be that close, but I do know you", Hector started his speech. "Why don't you allow her to leave?" 

"Because she wasn't in the necessary conditions to look after herself, according to Ashton, that's why!" 

"And in that case, why hadn't you allowed her to rest at an Inn? If you wanted to help her, you could have sent her to the nearest Inn with someone. Maybe with Irving…", Hector said, trying to imagine that couple… 

Uther always had an answer under his sleeve, or so it seemed. 

"Because I know she would have tried to leave the city. You said she was of that kind of people who are used to help themselves, trying to avoid other people's help. That's the only thing that explains why she doesn't travel with an escort…" 

"Oh, come on, Brother!", Hector exclaimed, impatiently. "Don't lie to yourself anymore! You asked her to accompany us to the ascension of Marquess Santaruz, and I've seen how you looked at her! And, most importantly, I've seen how you stared at her the first time you saw her, when I introduced to her that time! You were analyzing her deeply!", he said, all of a sudden, trying to make his brother confess what for him was far too obvious. 

Anyway, Uther stayed calm, and he just replied, "I looked at her like that because I wanted to see well who was guiding my brother and Eliwood's "happy bunch of mercenaries" -as someone called you at that time- in the offensive against Nergal" 

"Oh, yeah, I sure believe you", Hector said, ironically. "And you look every soldier, every advisor like that, uh?" 

"You!", Uther protested, glaring at his brother. "She's a nice young woman, but nothing more. Can't you understand that? Or you don't believe in female-male friendship?", he said, acting naturally. 

"Oh, that's this year's best joke!", his brother joked, still ironically. "Had you thought in abdicating and trying your luck as a jester or a bard? 

"So you would have to marry Florina, then?", Uther said, striking his brother in the most fragile point. "Or maybe Lyn? And what about Serra? Priscilla? Or Lucius?" 

"Hey, not that's too much!", Hector complained, angrily. That anger allowed him to hide the fact that he blushed when he heard the name "Florina". "Lucius was a 'he', not a 'she'!!" 

"He was a he?", Uther asked, puzzled. "Oh, my God, I would have never expected that. Yes, now that you mention it…", he said, thoughtfully. 

"Anyway, that's of no concern for us", Hector objected, a bit calmer. "About Alina…" 

"Nothing", Uther interrupted him. "Thanks for looking after her, but I won't do anything" 

"I'm not looking after her", his brother replied, both serious and sad. "I'm looking after you", he added. 

Uther stood still, like frozen. 

"You don't need to do that", he thanked, in his own way. "I'm going for a walk", he said, suddenly, leaving his brother thinking in a way to help his stubborn brother. 

*** 

Alina was walking through Castle Ostia's gardens, which were a real botanic masterpiece. She was walking alone, wearing her 'domestic outfit', a long brown dress –well, long skirt with a shirt-, the one she used when staying for many days at an Inn. And as she was staying too much in that place, which she feared to call 'home' someday (considering her stay), she considered there wouldn't be any problem with using it. 

She was walking, staring at the blue Ostian sky, listening to the birds singing. She felt some peace there, among nature, and peace was something she was needing in those days, with all those odd events happening to her. Being rescued by Marquess Ostia, staying at his Castle, trying to escape repeated times, and being forgiven each time, going to Santaruz with him, know about that rumor about them, dancing with him, that 'pillow fight' after that night… it was too much for her, a simple stranger commoner. 

"Mind you if I join you?", Uther's voice, sort of melancholic this time, sounded next to her. 

"Sure", she said, smiling. She would have more time to think later. 

They started walking together, side by side. They were silent for a short while. It was as if none of them wanted to break that peaceful silence. 

However, Uther noticed something strange in the wall, as if it were a black spot posed on it. He picked a stone from the ground, and seemed to play with it, under Alina's suspicious looking. He didn't want her to see that shadow he saw, because he didn't want to worry her. If it was a spy, he would take care of it, at his own way… 

They walked past that tree, and Uther didn't do anything strange. He just looked upside and went on walking. When they were a few meters away from that tree, he threw the stone he had in his hand backwards, and they could hear something similar to a human moan, and then the sound of a heavy body striking against the ground. 

"What was that?", Alina asked, afraid. She turned her head back to see what made that sound, but she found Uther's arm reaching her right shoulder, almost embracing her. He pushed her gently, like telling her to go on walking, while he said, calmly, 

"It was nothing. Let's go on walking". 

Alina went on walking, but she noticed that Uther hadn't removed his hand from her shoulder. Shyly, he looked at his hand, and then she looked at him. Just then, he looked at her, and removing his arm, he said, a bit awkwardly, 

"Ahh… sorry. I forgot you don't like this…" 

Alina moved her face to the other side, ashamed of herself. She felt so stupid, so inexperienced. It wasn't a suitable role for her, she thought. She wasn't feeling comfortable at all, and now, more than ever, she wanted to run away. 

"Uther, why had you brought me here when you found me in the woods?", she asked him, instead of running somewhere else. 

Uther thought for a short while, then he replied, "First, I thought you were dead, but then Ashton said you were just unconscious, and I wasn't going to leave you there until you woke up by yourself, nor I couldn't wait for that, because we were in a hurry. You reacted in the Castle, anyway." 

"But do you always help fallen people in your way?" 

"I can't do it that much, but I also can't look in another direction when I find someone needed of some kind of aid. I usually try to help, although I can't do much. It pains me to see how bandits treat commoners, as well as rich, important people use their influence to satisfy their own greed, without thinking in the rest of the people" 

Alina looked at him as if she had seen her ideal for a ruler. Her green eyes were shinning strangely, as if she were to cry, for some unknown reason. 

"You have a caring, nice heart", she said, lost in herself. 

"I don't resemble that, uh?", he said, offended. "Anyway, thanks for the 'compliment', if that was one" 

"No, wait!", Alina shouted, in despair, feeling very guilty for having hurt him with her last comment. "I didn't want to mean that, Lo… Uther! Please, forgive me, I'm extremely sorry! I…" 

"Hahaha! You sure look nice when you are nervous", he laughed, interrupting her. "It's alright. I know I look more like a brute. You don't have to apologize that much", he said, still laughing. Apparently, he was of the ones that laugh at their own defects. 

However, Alina moved her head in the opposite direction, so he couldn't see she was blushing. She was far too embarrassed to want him to notice her blushing. 

They went on walking. They still wanted to walk together, because neither of them made any sign of leaving. 

"I hope Ashton doesn't know I'm taking a walk, or he won't let you go for the rest of your life", he said, thoughtfully, after a while. He was trying to break the icy, silent atmosphere around them. 

"Why?", she asked, surprised of that statement. 

"Well, I'm supposed to do some walks every day, but I almost never do them", he said, hiding the fact that he never took his walks. "He says it would be good for my health, but I feel well and I don't have enough time to walk, while I should be doing more important things", he added, distantly, as if his mind was wherever else. 

Alina's expression changed from a saddened one to an annoyed one. 

"Are you listening to yourself?", she asked, angrily. "You've pestered me telling me to do what Ashton said, to eat his filthy food and to stay in bed, while you should take more care of yourself and you don't do it?!? You should think it over!", she said, annoyed. 

"Hey, I can't drop my obligations and rest while everything could be in danger!", he exclaimed, also annoyed by the little lecture of the tactician. "By the way, I'm not ill, just tired. And it's so boring to walk…"; he end his phrase here, keeping for himself a single word. 

"Anyway, you should do what your physician says. Why do you want him, if not for that?", she asked, still annoyed. "And you aren't the savior of the whole world! You should look after yourself a bit, you can't go through life without caring about your own issues", she added, coldly. "I know you'll say that the life of a Marquess is not like a commoner's life, and that you have several obligations and duties that you can't leave behind, you don't have to tell me that, but you should try to live your own life as much as you can. You are a human being after all", she said, seriously and ceremonial, without looking at him. 

They walked silently for another while. Alina was still angry with him. She felt it was so unfair: he made her stay at his castle for quite a long time (for her, time was like gold), while he hadn't paid attention to his own physician. He cared more about other people, and had neither the time or the will to look after himself, in her opinion. He put all his energy on looking after the others, and she couldn't accept that. But wasn't she looking for someone caring, that would give everything for her? She replied to herself that she was, but she also wanted someone that would look after himself, because she would lost him soon, if her man was too focused in helping others but not himself. So, was she angry with him, only with him? She was so absorbed in her own thoughts, that she couldn't see how Uther was staring at her: not with hate, but with a funny look she wouldn't tell its meaning. 

"Alina, may I ask you a question?", Uther asked, now trying to mend his error. 

"Yes, sure", she said, now talking naturally, washing away her annoyed mood. Luckily, her anger lasted short. 

"Where are you from?", the young Marquess asked, sort of shyly. "You once said your parents lived quite far…" 

"Make a guess", she said, funnily. "You'll never find it out by yourself" 

"Etruria?", he said, after thinking for a while. 

"Nope", she replied, smiling. "The fact that I was going to Etruria when you found me is no guarantee that I'm from there" 

"You are neither Lycian nor Sacaen… Bern, maybe? Or are you from Arcadia?", he said, draining his brain, thinking in many remote places. 

"Cold, cold…" 

"Ilia?" 

"No. Juggdral", she said, smiling. "I come from Nodion, a kingdom in the Juggdral continent, across the sea", she said, simply. 

Uther stayed puzzled. 

"I… woah! I hadn't thought you came from so far away!", he exclaimed, trying to get out of his astonishment. "And why are you here?" 

"Well, Nodion folks are a bit conservative, and they can't think in a woman working as a tactician. We can be tacticians for fun, as it were a hobby, and I didn't want that. And as I wanted to know other lands and people, I decided to cross the sea and come to Elibe", she said, naturally, showing no hints of regret or sadness. 

"I'm impressed", he replied, still surprised. "But don't you miss your people, your family?", he asked, interested in her background. 

"Well… yes", she said, walking slowly now. "But I can't look back. I know that someday I'll return, and that my family will be safe until then, so I just keep on going my own way", she said, in fond remembrance. "Plus, it's something that goes with the family: my parents meet each other in a journey, and many of my relatives travel much!", she said, cheerfully. 

"I see…", Uther replied, thinking in how different his family was. He and his brother were raised just to be noblemen, and he was the first person in the succession line. And, in that role, he had more duties and obligations than his younger brother, and he had to learn all the diplomatic stuff from an earlier age. Things got worst with their parents' death, and he had to assume his new role. Since then, he had little time for his brother, his only family left. 

"Uther?", Alina's voice called him, breaking his 'sadness spell'. 

"Umm? Yes, what is it?", he asked, lost. 

"May I ask you a question?", she asked, shyly. 

"Sure, shoot", he said, confident. 

"I don't want to be rude, but… where had you gotten your scars?", she asked, regretting her question just after she said it. 

Uther stayed thoughtful for a short moment, then he said, 

"It was Hector's doing" 

Alina looked at him puzzled, without getting his message. 

"It was when we still where kids. He threw something back, I can't recall what it was, maybe it was a glass, and it stroked in my face. Our parents almost killed him. But don't say anything, everyone thinks I got them in battle or while training", he said, trying to speak normally, although he was saddened and annoyed. 

Alina couldn't help it, but she started to laugh. 

"What is the funny thing with that, Alina?", he asked, puzzled and annoyed. His brother's clumsiness spoiled him, and that wasn't funny for him. 

"Please, excuse me, but it's that I understand you too well, he hasn't changed at all", she said, trying to stop her laughs. She picked her skirt and raised her right side a bit, right above her knee, revealing a medium size scar above it. "He picked his axe to go to a battle, and well… I was standing behind", she said, laughing at her own disgrace. 

Now Uther understood, and he couldn't resist laughing. 

* 

"This is too much, too much!", Irving yelled, angrily. He was spying his liege, using binoculars, and he couldn't accept the fact that a stranger drove him to the 'bad side', abandoning his duties. 

"What is it, shorty?", Hector asked, coming into the room. His expression changed when he saw his brother's advisor peeping the Marquess' actions. "What does this mean, you short man!!", he reclaimed, furious. 

"What does that mean, I would say!", Irving protested, offended. "Your brother is outside, with that little girl, and they seem like merchants in a holiday!", he moaned. 

"Give me that!", he yelled, picking the binoculars from the knight's hands. He looked through them, and learnt that Irving's statement was right. His chat with his brother was futile, it seemed. However, he wasn't angry. 

"Let them be", he said, at last, moving out of the window. "And what about your infamous manners, short knight? That isn't the correct thing to do…", he said, suspiciously. 

The knight felt ashamed, now that he was caught. "I just look after your brother, the Marquess. It's my duty to remember him…" 

"My brother knows too well his duties and obligations. He doesn't need a puppet to remember him what he should do or not" 

"Puppet?!?!? You are calling me a 'puppet'?!?!", Irving cried, scandalized. "Just stay here, you insolent little Lord…", he said, grabbing Hector's cape and forcing him to stay, while he started a lecture about 'respect to your elders'. 

* 

Meanwhile, Alina and Uther continued with their little walk, unaware of the 'spy within'. Everything seemed alright, until Uther started coughing. 

"Uther, are you alright?", Alina asked him, worried. Her big, green eyes were filled with a new mix of feeling that he hadn't seen before in her, and that she didn't want to admit: fear and worry. 

"I'm alright. It's nothing", he said, between more coughs. 

"Don't lie to yourself! You aren't well!", she exclaimed, afraid. "So this is why Ashton told you to walk, isn't it?" 

"Oh, don't worry about me, I'm alright", he said, after his last cough. "It happens from time to time. Look", he said, pointing to a wooden bench, next to a tall, white flowered tree. "Let's go and sit there for a while, and then we can return to the Castle, what do you think?" 

"Are you sure you are alright?", she asked, thinking he was acting his state, forcing himself to look normal and strong just for her and for the other guys at the Castle. 

"Hey, look at me", he said, raising her chin with his hand so her eyes could meet with his. "Do you think I could fake it for a long time?", he asked her, calmly. 

"I… I hope you wouldn't", she said, doubting. 

"Come on, let's go to that bench", he said, pushing her gently forwards. 

* 

"Oh, no! This is too much! This is really too much!!", Irving exclaimed, even more scandalized than when Hector called him 'puppet'. 

"Wasn't the previous event 'too much'?", Hector asked the little knight without much interest. 

"No, this is really too much!", the knight cried. "They are sitting at that bench, and that's where your father proposed marriage to your mother!! I can't allow that. I have to stop him, I have to stop him!", he exclaimed, near a surprise attack. 

"What? You were 'gossip man' at time, too?", Hector asked ironically. 

"Later, I have to stop your brother right NOW!!", Irving screamed, leaving the room and Hector behind. 

"Hey, you aren't going anywhere, you little gossip puppet!!", Hector shouted, running behind the advisor. 

* 

The two of them sit in the wooden bench mentioned earlier, and stayed there, not knowing what to say. It was as if there weren't any topics left, leaving behind the ones that could saddened or annoy them. Alina was thinking in that, when Uther called her. 

"Wha…?", she started saying, but didn't continue. 

She noticed Uther nearer to her, and she lowered her head, mechanically, trying to hide the shameful look in her eyes she had, and her blushed cheeks. However, he grabbed her chin gently, and made her meet his eyes, as he did some minutes ago. His face was nearer, almost like that morning in Santaruz, yet she wanted to escape and to stay at the same time. He put his remaining hand around her hip, and the hand he had in her chin moved to her neck. 

Her hands were trembling, as almost all her body, and a lone tear managed to escape from her rebel shining, emerald green eyes. 

"Uth… Lor… Ma..a…r… please…", she tried to say, sort of begging mercy from him, but she couldn't exteriorize her fear: she was afraid she would be a mere flirt, and on the other hand, she couldn't be anything else but that, a youth infatuation, with much luck. 

"I like you so much when you get nervous", he said, sweetly, trying to calm her. He was decided to do his own will, without any stranger's advice, at least once… But he wasn't that calm, either. He knew somebody could be watching them at that moment, and then he would have to cope with half scandalized Castle. However, he wasn't going to let go the chance to do his own will, for a small moment. 

His face got nearer to hers, and somewhat, she lost part of her fear. Their breathing seemed to be the same, but she was still trembling. He pulled her face gently again (his hand was also shaking, she could tell that), and their lips were almost next to the other. Their eyes closed, and their lips together… 

"Lord Uther!! Lord Uth…arghhhh!!!", Irving's voice broke the magical spell, even before they could even kiss each other. 

They looked, annoyed and taken by sur´rise, in the direction Irving's voice came, just to see him standing still, looking at the sky. They also looked up, and they found Fiora, performing her critical hit (she was spinning her silver lance, so Alina knew she was about to do a critical) towards the chickened knight. 

"Ahhh, idiot, take this!!!", she yelled, coming down the skies, striking her 'enemy'. However, Irving was a knight, a heavy armored knight, so her attack did no damage to him. Anyway, it took the soldiers and Hector a good time to separate her from the paralyzed knight, because she was eager to take revenge against that disgusting little man. 

Meanwhile, Alina and Uther stood there, watching the whole bizarre scene, sort of ashamed by their little flirting… She placed her head in his chest, and he leaned his head on hers, trying to bury their feeling, while the others kept on fighting. 

*** 

"So you were out for a walk, and you felt ok, uh?", Ashton asked the tactician, once they all got into the Castle again. Everyone except Fiora, who flew away in her falcion before the soldiers even thought in capturing her. 

"Yes, I'm in perfect shape!", she exclaimed, cheerfully and radiant. They were already in her bedroom, Ashton and her. Uther would've liked to stay, but he had to cope with Irving first, who was now suffering of a small panic attack since he saw Fiora coming violently from the skies towards him. 

"This means I can leave tomorrow, doesn't it?", she exclaimed overjoyed. Her wish was so near to come true… 

"No", Ashton replied, coldly. "I first want to examine you for a last time, to see everything's alright. But the matter is that tomorrow I won't be here at the Castle, so you'll have to wait until the following day", the physician said, picking his things and opening the door, ready to leave. 

"Ehhh…? W…wh…y?", Alina asked, shocked. She couldn't find the words to complain or to ask for a simple explanation. 

"It's my daughter's birthday, and I'm staying the whole day with her", he said, from the door. "That's why I won't show up around here tomorrow". 

"That's selfish!!", Alina protested. "You can come early in the morning! And who doesn't tell you that I want to get out of here as soon as possible to be with my family again, uh?", she asked, angrily. 

"I won't change my mind. Good luck, Alina", he said, leaving the room, but he returned quickly, just to add, "You didn't want to tell them you were here, so I think they don't expect you, yet…" 

He closed the door quickly, evading a flying cushion that was heading towards him, menacingly. 

*** 

Night came, and it was bedtime. She hadn't talked to anyone but a maid since Ashton left. At heart, she knew nobody would come. 

She got into her bed, and until she fall asleep, nobody knocked her door, and Alina couldn't tell if she was feeling well or not with that fact… 

**** 

Hehe... some post-chapter insanity here… 

Alina: Fiora, please, tell me! Why did you do that? 

Fiora: What? That about Irving? 

Alina: *nods* Yes! You attacked him with your Silver Lance! 

Fiora: Well, first of all, you were so cute down there, together… and that idiot had to pop out and ruin everything! Then, because he's so disgusting, I hate him!! You should have seen him when he found my falcion, he almost wanted to take it with him. And then, finally, because I had to put the humor quote in this love sucking chapter! 

Alina: *puzzled* Ah, thanks… 

Fiora: Oh, come on, don't look at me like that, cheer up! I, Ilia's falconspy Fiora, am here!! 

Alina: *astonished and ashamed* Seems that the adrenaline made a short circuit in her head and ruined her brain… 

I borrowed "Juggdral" and "Nodion" from Fire Emblem 4, but now I'm not sure if it can coexist in the same world of this Fire Emblem (I had understood that Juggdral was another continent, but now I'm not sure =/) 

Again, sorry for the length of this chapter! I hadn't expected to write that much! The remaining ones will be shorter (I hope), so stay around. I've decided to end this fic first, so I can move my free time typing to another work (which will be much longer) and focus in it completely. 

Thanks for the reviews, again (blushes). Please, keep on telling me what do you think, especially about this last two chapters. And sorry for that cheap Lucius joke =S 

Note: Thanks Evil Neptune for warning me about the "odd paragraph distribuition". Seems I've mistaken the file Ihad to upload with my Word copy. =/ At least, I could correct some little grammar and typing errors... and add thinkgs like this one =D  
See you!


	5. That last moment

Chapter 5: "That last moment" 

A day passed, and Alina had barely seen Uther. Apparently, some fuss with a group of Bern bandits was taking all of his time, but part of her wasn't sure that was the real reason for his absence. However, she wasn't angry at him, he too could be confused and dizzy by the events of a few days ago… 

The day before Hector left the Castle, as it seemed he had to go to Pherae. Then, he would go with Eliwood to Caelin, just to pay Lyn a visit. She wanted so much to go, too… Anyway, his visit included a chat about her feelings towards his brother, although he hadn't introduced the topic directly, but asking questions about herself, without naming his brother, in an indirect way. She guessed his intentions, and she told him not to worry, that she wouldn't do anything wrong. That seemed to calm him, and then he left. 

She was thinking in that while Ashton was checking everything was alright with her, and it seemed to be so, finally… 

"See? This is what patience brings as a reward", the physician said, friendly. "If you hadn't stayed at bed, you would be carrying some sort of sequel from your wound, and now you are almost perfect". 

"What do you mean with 'almost'?", she asked, afraid. She could bet her life that he would say she had to stay for six days more. 

"I can't force you to stay, but I think you should rest even more, maybe one or two days", the physician said, knowing beforehand what her reaction would be. "You can walk and continue your journey, but I would suggest you not to overdo it", he said, picking his things. "I have no more other business to do with you", he said, saddened. She was sure he was about to shed a tear… 

"Really? I mean, you aren't lying to me, are you? I can really leave, I won't find any inconvenient to leave?", she asked. Her green eyes were wide open, product of the surprise. 

"Yes, you can leave. You have nothing else to do here", he said, trying to convince her. 

"I… thanks, Ashton!!!!", she exclaimed, cheerfully. She had to keep herself calm and avoid hugging the touched physician. 

"It was nothing", he replied. "Well, Alina, this is farewell", he said, almost out of the room. 

"Ashton… sorry if I've treated you badly", she apologized, ashamed of herself. "Thanks for everything" 

"You don't have to apologize", he said, friendly. "Good luck, Alina", he said, walking along the corridor. 

"Thanks, good luck for you too!!", she waved him from her door. Then she closed the door of her room and, after jumping and celebrate for herself the fact that she was leaving, she started to put all her things in her old bag and to leave everything cleaned, as it was when she first awakened there. 

*** 

Knock, knock. 

"Come in", Uther's voice shouted, impatiently, from inside. 

Alina opened the door to Uther's study, and she found him behind his desk, checking some papers. He was wearing trousers and a white shirt, thing that called Alina's attention because she was used to see him with his armor, even at the Castle. He seemed much thinner than what he looked wearing that huge armor. 

Uther stared at her for a short while. She was carrying her things, and had already put her green cape over her shoulders. She was smiling, and her eyes were shinning with a friendly look this time. She was wearing her travelling clothes, the same ones that have been soaked in hot tea earlier. Fortunately for Alina's fashion sense, there where no hints of that event. He left all his papers on the desk, and after looking her well, he said, smiling lightly, 

"You look like a small kid dressed with her mother's clothes like that". His voice had a hint of sorrow, but he tried to act normal. 

Alina looked at herself, then she faced him again. 

"Yes, I know. Second rule of wandering tacticians: Use comfortable clothes to travel. You may not find a boyfriend or a husband, but you'll travel better", she joked, giggling. 

Uther smiled at her lightly. Apparently, he was very tired, and hadn't the necessary strength to laugh… or was he sad? 

"And which one is the first one?", he asked, curious. 

Alina thought for a little while. "You know, they aren't official. A teacher of mine told us about their existence, but no one pays attention to them", she said, trying to drive his interest to another topic. 

"But which one is the first one?", he asked back, impatient. 

Alina doubted for a seconds, then she said, "When your job is finished, and you know you won't work anymore for that employer, flee away and find another employer. Past employers can be friends but you may not stick to them, as they will only be trouble", she said, shyly. 

Uther looked at her, but he had no expression in his face, and that made her feel uncomfortable. She stopped smiling quickly, and she looked at him somewhat nostalgic. 

"Ashton says I can leave, and well… I've come to thank you all what you did for me. I won't be able to pay you back in a lifetime", she said, thankful. 

"It was nothing", Uther replied. "You have nothing to thank, yet nothing to repay" 

"Well, if you say so…", she said, shyly. 

Uther coughed, and he was angry with himself about that. Knowing Alina, the topic of his health was going to pop out… 

"Are you ok?", she asked worried, as she asked him that other say at the gardens. 

"Yes, I'm ok", he said, harshly, moving away from her. "I told you not to worry about this or about me. It's a short cold, it'll disappear in a few days time…" 

"There's something that makes me distrust you in this matter", she said, suspiciously, trying to find an answer in his eyes. 

He moved his head to the opposite direction, so he wouldn't meet her gaze. 

"That means I'm right, am I not?", she asked, saddened and worried. 

"Come on, Alina, I'm not a little child. I can look after myself without any problems", he protested, annoyed. 

"Sometimes you really look like one!", she complained, like a mother would have done with her rebel son. "Are you sure you do everything what Ashton tells you?" 

"Except the walks around the Castle, yes", he admitted. She was stronger than him in that aspect. 

"Sure? Do you sleep well, take your meals, everything?" 

"Yes, Mother, I do", he said, ironically. 

"I'm not your mother!!", she exclaimed, laughing and playing scandalized. "Don't ruin yourself", she said, then, sweetly. "Will you take care of yourself? Will you do whatever Ashton says? Can you promise me that?", she said, all of a sudden. 

He was puzzled by that last 'outburst'. After all, she cared about him, it wasn't an impression, but a reality… 

He laughed, and then he said, "If that makes you calmer, I can promise you that" 

They both stayed silent for a short while. Alina didn't know what else she could say. She hated farewells, and she wanted to run away as soon as she could. Uther, on the other hand, couldn't find another topic, and couldn't let her go. 

"Come on, I'll go with you to the door", he said, finally. 

"No, please", she asked, almost in despair. "I hate farewells or good-byes. I feel so bad. That's why I always try to follow Tactician's Rule N° 1. Don't torture me doing that, please, I beg you" 

"Ally, please", he said, coldly. "It's the last thing I can do for you, and I'll do it. What does it change to say good-bye here, or next to a door?" 

Alina looked at him puzzled, and also touched. 

"You called me 'Ally'", she said, as soon as she could speak. "You've called me by my pet name" 

"And what's wrong with that?", he said, hiding his surprise for having let go that name from his lips, and the one that she had for having been called by that. 

"No… nothing", she said, turning back. "Alright, let's go", she approved his offer, walking through the corridor. 

Uther stayed back for a short while. He stared at her, and he whispered, coldly, 

"It's too late for that. It's a pity that I hadn't found you before…" 

Alina turned back, and smiling, she asked, "Did you say something?" 

That smile made him think better his answer. No, he wouldn't torment her with his problem, she had already her own things to worry. Not that he thought in telling her about it, from the very beginning. He was used to look after himself, and to not worry the others with his own dilemmas. Court affairs were much more important than his own issues, especially having Bern, excelling in military tactics and affairs, as neighboring country. He could handle his life himself, and he was so used to that, that when someone tried to help him, it annoyed him. Strangely enough, Alina wasn't that annoying, for some unknown reason… 

"No, I didn't", he replied, smiling lightly. "Come on, let's go. You want to leave" 

"Don't make it sound like that. It seems that you treated me badly that way", she said, still smiling. "I leave because I have to, that's why" 

They walked side by side, silent. Uther tried to grab Alina's things, but she didn't allowed him, strongly. Again, words were absent, and seemed to be non-existent in their minds. Seems that it was one of those moments where two people prefer to be silent, just feeling the others presence. 

They reached the 'reception room', as Alina called it, and the door. The parting was right before them. 

"Well, now I have to leave, really", she said, looking at the blue Ostian skies. 

"I can't force you to stay, because it's not going to rain anytime soon", he said, also staring at them. 

The 'brownish reddish' haired tactician giggled, with a hint of nostalgia. 

"Thank you so much for the treatment you gave me, for the opportunity to see my companions again… thanks", she thanked him, happily. "I don't know where or how I would be now if you hadn't appeared in that forest" 

"I hope you'll learn to travel with an escort, after all this", he joked. "You know, I won't be there to help you any time you are attacked, even if I would like to do it" 

"I know, you don't have to say it", she said, sort of saddened, as if she could feel something wrong. 

"Hey, don't get sad", he said, trying to cheer her up. "Maybe next time I can tell you how to pick a sword", he said, encouraging. 

It was then when everything seemed clear and confusing at the same time for her. 

"Uther", she said, doubting first, then more decided, gathering her courage. "Will I ever see you again?" 

The young Marquess stood still, surprised by that kind of question. Or she was feeling something odd about him, or she wanted so much to be with him, were his thoughts. He smiled, trying to give her confidence (was it real that she wanted someone whose only sight could inspire that feeling? Or his spy overhead wrongly and Alina wasn't the girl in question? Anyway, he tried to do his best to satisfy her supposed 'soft-spot'), and said, 

"Don't be silly. I'm sure we'll bump into each other again" 

"But I'm a wandering tactician for hire, so it'll be difficult to find me…", she started saying, but he interrupted her. 

"Hey, you are talking to the ruler of the spy's capital!", he joked, badly. "Someone will know where you are, I suppose" 

"Now I think I feel a bit less secure than before…", she said, at the only thought of knowing that a person would be following her day and night, just to report her habits and life. 

"Oh, come on! I wouldn't do that with you", he said, calming her. "I just tried to cheer you up, but seems that it isn't my specialty" 

"It's alright", she said, looking at the sky. "I have to leave", she said, not facing him. "Soon, the weather won't be as friendly as it is now, and I would rather leave now", she said, picking her things. 

"Wait", he said, grabbing her from an arm. 

She turned back, quite annoyed by that habit of him of grabbing her and pulling towards him, but in this case he just stopped her from walking, while he was looking for something in his pockets. He found the item he was looking desperately: a golden bracelet with blue and green stones on it. She couldn't tell if they were precious stones or not, but she didn't want to do anything with it. He moved towards her right hand, and put it on her wrist, while she tried to prevent him of doing that. 

"No, please…", she begged, nervously. "I can't accept it, I can't leave with this!" 

"Don't be so scandalizing, you know!", he moaned, after 'achieving his goal'. The bracelet was in her wrist, even if she didn't want it. 

"It's a small present for you being here", he explained, normally. "You could have knocked down all the army if you really wanted to escape, or you could have faked my authorization" 

"I hadn't thought in that!", Alina thought, but she gave up that plan a long time ago. 

"But…", she complained, but she already knew it was useless: Uther wasn't of the ones that hesitate or turn back after deciding something. He wouldn't accept it back even if she were pointing at him with a lance. So, she was now the proud new owner of a little bracelet, much to her disappointment. 

"It's not fair", she said, looking at it. "It's a beautiful thing, but I can't take it. I can't give you anything in return! Unless you want my cape, but I need it", she said, looking at her old, green cape, that was like a second skin for her. 

"You already gave me much", he said. Then, an inopportune cough showed up. 

Alina looked at him worried. 

"Are you sure you'll be ok? I don't like how it sounds", she asked. "Maybe if you want, I can… stay around", she said, almost like a whisper, shyly. She couldn't understand why, but she felt she could gave up her 'freedom' to stay a little while with him, unless until he were ok. 

He smiled lightly and looked at her as if nothing had happened. 

"I appreciate your kindness, but I already told you that I'll be ok", he said, acting naturally. "I don't know why you make that fuss about an autumn cold. I don't know what you'll do if you ever have children", he joked, ironically. 

"Maybe you are right", she said, giving up. "Yes, I don't know why I am so paranoid, concerning health issues", she said, thoughtfully. 

"In the others, because when it comes down to you…", he said, ironically. 

"Just like you", she replied back, sarcastically. 

They both laughed for a short while, then she picked her things. A part of her wanted to stay, but her business –her accidental business, because she didn't searched for it- was over. It was time to leave. 

"Well, thank you for everything", she said, grabbing her bag. "Say 'bye' to Hector and the others for me when you see them", she said, now ready to leave. 

"Alright", he said. "I'll do that". 

They stood looking at each other, without talking. Neither of them knew what else to say. Those moments before a parting… no one wants to say anything, and then they regret it for the rest of their lives or until they have a second chance… 

"Now that I see you better, you look much thinner without that big armor of yours…", she said, trying to delay the parting with a trivial topic. 

Uther looked at himself, and he blushed lightly… thing that surprised Alina, because she hadn't seen him blushing since she got there. Or at least, she didn't recall it. 

"Now you look cute when you blush", she said, ironically, thinking in that walk around the gardens, the day he almost kissed her. She was taking her revenge, at long last… 

He didn't say anything, but he caressed her in her cheek, although it was a bit harshly, and that made her blush. He knew how to take revenge, also… 

"Well, I'm going", she finally said, repeating the same phrase over and over, as is she could convince herself. "Please, take care. Don't overwork that much, and listen to Ashton, he's a good guy…" 

"Unlike Irving, uh?", he asked, laughing. 

"Argh!! He was so disgusting to me!", she admitted, now that she was a foot out of the castle. "I think I wasn't nice to him, am I wrong?" 

"I don't know. I barely listen to him", he also admitted, laughing. 

"This is a nice revelation", she said, giggling. Then she gathered all her courage again, and said, trying to speak normally, "See you later" 

"See you" 

"Will you stay there until I walk through the Castle's gates?", she asked, curiously. 

"Maybe yes, maybe not", he replied, mysteriously. "Does it bother to you?" 

"No, just curious", she said, smiling. 

She started walking, but then turned back again, as if she had forgotten something. 

"Will I ever see you again?", she asked, and then she blushed, as if she had just noticed what she had asked and didn't want to say it. 

The light breeze was moving her hair and her green cape gently, and her untidy fringe was hiding her eyes as the wind passed through it. She moved it from her face with her hand, while she also tried to cover her blushing cheeks. Her expression was a mix of anxiety and calm, and she was doing her best to keep on smiling. She didn't want to get sad, although she knew she would have little opportunities to see him again, and that 'something' among them was highly improbable, and both of them knew it, but knowing him, who was a bit uncounventional for a ruler... no one could tell. 

Uther smiled lightly and just nodded. 

"I hope so", she said, friendly. "See you" 

"See you", he replied, almost like a whisper. 

She turned back and started walking through Castle Ostia's gardens. Just some meters ahead was the big, fortified gate, that same one she tried to escape in her first days of 'imprisonment'. She was walking confidently, or so she tried to look, while she was quite confused at heart. She didn't want to turn back, because she didn't want to meet the dark blue haired young man, who treated her so well for he last weeks. She didn't want to think anymore about that, just to focus in her next destination, but for the time being she couldn't. She raised her head and stared at the sky, as if it could wash away her thoughts, but instead she saw a familiar figure. She waved at her, and the falconknight came from the skies and picked her up from the ground, leaving that way Castle Ostia and its people behind. 

Uther couldn't help but laughing at the sight of the young tactician flying over his Castle with Fiora. He was rather confused, also, but he couldn't allow himself to think in other things but his own business, now that the 'emerald eyed' girl was gone. 

"So the little girl is finally gone, uh?", Irving asked, standing behind his liege. "Should I organize a party, now that the little demon is out?", he asked, sarcastically. "But now that I think of it, she would have suited you well; both of you are so unconventional…", he said, as if he were a superior being. 

"Irving, do me a favor?", Uther asked, calmly. "Go to Hell, and don't appear until I call you, yes?", he asked, with the same serenity he had before. 

Irving stood puzzled, but then he left his Marquess alone. He knew he could end up badly if he stayed, challenging.

* 

"I can't believe that you are out, Ally!", Fiora exclaimed, cheerfully. "What had you done? You've killed the petit stupid knight or you bribed his doctor?", she asked, ironically. 

"What a concept you have of me!", the tactician cried, acting scandalized and laughing. "The physician said I could live, and well, here am I, 'onboard' your falcion" 

The tactician sighed, a long, deep sigh. 

"I hope to be luckier next time", she said, tired. "Every time a group of bandits attacks me, it's just for trouble" 

"Why?", the greenish haired girl asked, paying attention to her falcion. 

"Well, the first time I was attacked by bandits, Lyn found me unconscious in the Sacae plains, and I ended up guiding her and her group against her own Uncle, Lord Lundgren. Then, the second time, I could barely escape from another bunch, and I stayed at an Inn in Pherae. It was there where I listened Lowen asking for some help to go in the search of Marquess Pherae and his men, and as I wanted to see Eliwood and to escape from the bandits, I got myself into that, which ended in our quest against Nergal" 

"That's right", Fiora interrupted, cheerfully. "It was then when I became a falconknight, and I owe it to you!", she added, giggling. 

"You were in your right time to become one", the tactician analyzed, seriously. "Anyway, and now, I was sort of trapped in Castle Ostia, doing the toughest job I had ever done until that time" 

"And what was it?" 

Alina doubted for a short while, then she said seriously, 

"To guide myself, against my own, in a strange battlefield, against an unknown and unexpected enemy" 

"Quite poetic", Fiora noticed, ironically. 

"I didn't know what he wanted", Alina went on, feeling guilty for some unknown reason, but she couldn't help it. "It was rather strange that he didn't allow me to go, or to even rest at an Inn, if he wanted his physician to see me… I guess that I panicked, and behaved like a brute commoner in some occasions, but it was stronger than me… The worst is that I tried the best I could to evade that imaginary trap, but I think I hadn't succeeded..", she said, saddened. 

"Do you love him?", Fiora asked her, seriously, all of a sudden. 

"That… I can't tell", Alina said, ashamed of herself. "That's why I say I don't think I've succeeded in evading the trap… the 'trap for the heart', as I call it. He may have done it without that intention, but now here I am, doubting of my own name…", she said, enlarging the situation. "The worst is that I came here to Elibe looking for job experience and maybe love, if I was lucky enough. Now I regret that. I hadn't thought it hurt that much…", she said, shyly. 

"So you didn't want to fall in love, yet you did, and now you regret, being that a thing that you really wanted with all your heart", Fiora analyzed. "Aren't you a bit immature in that aspect?" 

"Hmph! Thanks for that!", Alina complained ironically, and somewhat offended. "Hey, it's the first time someone 'seems' that interested in me! And how to react in those cases is not an issue that you can find in tactician's books!", she said, sarcastically. "I still don't know if what I feel is love or a simple infatuation! And I don't know what he really felt. Maybe he was just infatuated…" 

"Or maybe not" 

"Argh!! Don't make me feel guilty!", the tactician yelled, angrily. "I always liked Kent best, even though he never repaired in me and with that serious thing he has and will ever have. And I only knew what was to love or feel something for someone, but not to be loved by someone who wasn't a member of my family, and that kind of love in this cases isn't that valid", she explained, trying to calm herself down. "And I was starting to embrace the idea of being single for the rest of my life", she complained, ironically. 

That puzzled Fiora, who turned back and looked at her astonished. 

"How old are you, gal?! You aren't old, whatever your age is", she said, . 

"I'm twenty-two, a short way to twenty-three", she replied, resigned. "Why do you ask?" 

"Oh, Goodness! You'll find someone, I can assure you!", the falcoknight replied, in haste. "In that case, what's in store for me? I'm already twenty-four, you know", she replied, laughing. "Now tell me, why did you want to escape so much?", she asked, now more serious. 

Alina thought for a while, then she replied, "I think I panicked, and I wanted to escape. On the other hand, I've been looking after myself without any help for a long time, and I guess I'm not used to be looked after, after all" 

"I see. Now, changing the topic, what will you do?", Fiora asked, worried by those menacing winds. It was a rather windy day, and she was too worried about her falcion, who didn't seem alright in the last few days. 

"Well, I think I'll rest at an old Inn in some little village, so I can think well about my lie and future, and then I'll go on with my journey towards the nothing", the young tactician said, sarcastically and sighing. "I really don't know, as I didn't know what to do since I placed a foot in Elibe", she added, bitterly. 

"Maybe I can drop you somewhere around", Fiora offered, friendly. "A thing I would really suggest you is to try to find an escort. If it's as you said, and as many town folks complain about the amount of bandits in the roads these days, it won't be long until you are attacked again", she advised, seriously. 

"Maybe you are right", Alina thought, not very convinced. "I got it!!!", she exclaimed, very excited and happy, much unlike her previous taciturn mood. "Erk!! I'll hire Erk!!", she exclaimed, almost scaring the falcion with her shouts. 

Fiora giggled, and went on guiding her falcion. The two girls stayed silent, and it was then when the tactician looked back, for the first time. Castle Ostia seemed a small spot in the land, and its people would have had the size of little ants. The wind was blowing gently, moving her hair and her clothes, as a gentle caress. A lone tear run across her still blushed cheek, and she closed her eyes wide shut, while the wind went on blowing gently, and the world stood in its place… 

*** 

Uf… I could finally make it shorter than the last chapters… 

Stay around, because the epilogue's pending… 


	6. Blowing in the wind

Epilogue: Blowing in the Wind 

"And, mommy? Did Granny returned and stayed with Uther for forever?", sweet little Audrey asked curiously, eager to listen to the ending of her granny's love story. 

Alen, who was a little older than his six-year-old sister, already knew there was no 'then'. Otherwise, he would be the heir to House Ostia's throne, and he wasn't. Unless his mother… 

"There was not a 'then', sweetie", Vivien, the sibling's mother and Alina's daughter said, calmly. "Your gran did less than a month travelling when she felt something was wrong, and went rushing all the way back to Ostia, just to find in the middle of her journey an Ostian spy who told her that Uther wasn't well. She then learnt that he died a few weeks later, of the same illness that took his parents from him and his brother. Then his brother Hector took the throne and ruled Ostia and the Lycian League wisely, as Uther would have expected from him", she said, sighing. "Anyway, your granny stayed around, travelling from village to village within Ostia, because she was so sure about her next destination, and maybe because she was following her intuition, women's sixth or seventh sense", she added, drying up a small tear. Thinking that way of her mother, who was visiting her family in Juggdral, always made her sad. 

"But… she never saw him again? That spy guy hadn't took her to him?", Audrey asked, quickly. She couldn't understand how it could have end so sad. And she wasn't going to forgive that spy if he or she just told her grandma the news and then left. 

"That… I don't know", Vivien said, thoughtfully. Her brown big eyes were shinning sadly. "Mother never told me that, and I never dared to ask her, because it always pained her to think in that", she explained. 

"But how do you know that story?", eight-year-old Alen asked, impressed. "Does grandpa know about it?" 

"Of course he does, and he accepts it", her mother replied, now smiling. "He loves your gran so much, and that story doesn't bother him, because he knows how she felt, and he can't change the past, after all. He even offered naming your uncle Luke after him, but she refused. She wasn't going to torture his first child with that kind of tribute. She never liked that", she added, in fond remembrance. 

The boy thought in his grandfather, now with his granny at Juggdral, after so many years. How could he accept that, how could he understand his wife in the way he did? That made him even more prouder of what he was, concerning his grandparents. 

The three of them stayed silent, as if they needed time to understand the story. Vivien hadn't been so convinced of telling her little children her mother's story, but they insisted on learning more things about their grandma, and as they promised not to pester her when she returned from her homeland, she accepted. They had already heard much about their grandpa's quests in the past, and about her own journeys and their father's adventures, so now it was time for their granny… 

"When I grow up, I want to be a tactician like granny, and have tons of adventures like the ones she had!", Audrey exclaimed happily, all of a sudden. Her sadness longed little, thankfully. 

"Nah, it's so boring to just guide others", Alen said, without sharing his sister's enthusiasm. "I want to have adventures, too, and action, and to wield… an axe! Yes, an axe! Or maybe a sword, or even a bow…", he started naming, trying to make up his mind. 

Vivien giggled, and her reddish brown hair moved gently. 

"Seems it's a family tradition that all the females become tacticians", Vivien, a recognized tactician herself, said, cheerfully. "But it would be useful to learn how to use a sword, also. So you can protect yourself from bandits and from annoying people, was one of Mother's favorite sayings", she added, smiling. "She finally learnt to wield a slim sword, by the way. Although she never learnt to travel with an escort", she said, for her children's interest. 

The door opened, and the kids went straight to it. A tall, blonde haired man entered, and hugged the children, under Vivien's nice smile, which resembled Alina's one so much. 

"Daddy!", Audrey exclaimed, in her dad's arms. "Mom told us a lot about granny. I want to be a tactician like her!" 

"Really, sweetie?", the man asked, happily. "You still have time to decide, but I'm happy if you choose that", he added, winking his eye to his wife. "It would be great to be the son-in-law of the 'Wind Tactician' or 'Wind Lady', married to the 'Brownish Sigh' and father of the 'Light Green Jewel'", he said, holding his daughter in his arms and touching her light hair, which seemed to be neither green nor blonde, while referring to Alina, Vivien and his own daughter, respectively. "It's a pity that I couldn't be taht famous for myself", he added, faking some sorrow. 

Vivien laughed. 

"I never knew why they called her like that if her affinity is Moon, not Wind", she noticed, resigned. "Well, it had to be for her habit of running away once she had finished her job" 

"You really had the habit of sighing and of disappearing like a sigh", her husband joked, laughing. "I had to run behind you to get your name and address, after meeting you the first time" 

"Dad, did you know that I could have been heir to Ostia's throne?", Alen asked, trying to get his father's attention. 

"Hmm, yes. Your mother told me something some time ago", he said, thoughtfully. 

"Don't start daydreaming, Alen", Vivien said, giggling. "You are forgetting your uncle. He would have been the first in the succession line. I'm the younger sibling", she said, breaking the boy's dream. 

"I hadn't thought in that", Alen said, saddened. His fantasy of having been the heir to the most powerful house in Lycia was demolished by reality. 

"Hey, you don't like your commoner, active life?", Garth, his father, asked, acting offended. 

"It's not that…", the oldest sibling said, resigned. 

"Oh, come on. Let's stop talking about the past. Dinner is ready", Vivien said, coming from the kitchen and setting up the table. 

*** 

It was a starry, cool night, like all those Autumn nights over Elibe. Vivien was outside her home, staring at the bright stars, shinning like little playful children up in the sky. She had already sent her children to bed, and they were certainly sleep, as she checked later, before going out. Garth, his caring husband, was also sleeping, but in a sofa in the living room, where he laid down to rest for a little while. She was the only one still awake. 

Suddenly, the door opened, and a pair of strong, warn and familiar arms embraced her, affectionately. 

"What is the matter, darling?", Garth asked her, still sleepy. 

"Nothing", she replied, thoughtfully. "It's just that I wanted to think a little. Mom's story amazes me and saddens me at the same time. I can't help it, but it's always the same", she said, trying to find an answer for her state. 

"Yes, she was quite strong, after all", he said, now full awake. "And your dad also. He knew from the very first time about that event" 

"Yes, but I get more sad than Mom when I think of that story", Viv complained, annoyed. "Maybe it is because I hadn't lived something like that, thankfully. But she always tried to look ok when she thought of those days… And she loves Dad greatly, so that makes me happy", she said, smiling. 

"Well, he surely chased her, so he had to feel something strong for her, hadn't he?", Garth joked. "Come on, don't get so sad. Being nasty, I have to thank that she didn't marry Uther, because I would have never had the chance to meet you, and you wouldn't be like you are now", he said, whispering next to her ear. "Now, thanks to that, I have you in my arms… my wonderful and lovely tactician" 

Vivien smiled, and washed away her fears and sadness. 

"You are right. I wouldn't be here, and I wouldn't have a lovely husband and a lovely family", she said, smiling. "But, at the end, Mom wasn't that unlucky. Although she seemed to have a soft-spot for ultra caring guys", she said, now normally. 

"Yes, my father-in-law was always caring about you and about the rest of the people, wasn't he?", Garth asked her, curious. 

"Don't remind me that!", she exclaimed, laughing. "Yes, he was always looking after the others more than about himself. Although he wasn't that stubborn as Uther, according to what I got from Mom's story. But that must go down with the family", she said, getting a bit serious. "Why did you take that long to come home? You finally helped the farmers outside the village, hadn't you?" 

Garth blushed, and tried to evade his wife's sight.  
"Well… alright, I admit it: yes", he said, trying to make a satisfactory alibi, but he failed even before starting to think in one. "Hey, they only needed some wood to build their barn! It's something that can help all of us", he said, trying to convince her. 

"While you don't overdo it or overexpose ourselves because of your Samaritan actions, everything's ok", Vivien said, trying to calm herself. "I don't want to miss you or to keep on worrying over you", she said, now lovingly. 

"Darling… you don't have to fear that much", he said, hugging her tighter. "Everything will be alright", he said, leaning his face in her head. 

Both of them stayed there, watching at the stars, feeling the kind wind, which seemed like a caress. 

"Honey?", Garth asked, thoughtfully. 

"Yes?" 

"Had your Mother seen him, in the end?", he asked her, curious and touched. 

Vivien stood still for a while, thoughtfully. The wind seemed kinder that before, lightly and gentle. She stayed there, feeling it, sensing it, enjoying it. As if it were saying something important. 

"I don't know", she admitted, once again. "But I think she did", she said, closing her eyes to feel the majestic gentle wind blowing at her side her. "It couldn't have ended that bad…" 

Garth nodded, and hugged her again, holding her close to his chest, as if he too wanted to listen to the wind and its unknown and supposed message… 

The End 

***** 

Finally… 

Sorry for having written those long, LONG chapters. I couldn't stop writing and I couldn't find a nice way to post them in different chapters or to cut some parts. I hope someone has finished reading it and enjoyed it (=P), as much as I enjoyed writing it. Again, sorry for the huge chapters. 

It was supposed to have an open ending in chapter 5, but when I read Hector's fate (and Uther's fate, 'in'directly) in the ending, unless I created a parallel universe, I saw I couldn't use the ending I had first planned –which was a silly, romantic comedy one, that I changed quickly for something similar to my actual chapter 5, although it was quite open. 

I hope you've liked it, and if you really finished it, please tell me what do you think, even if you tell me that I'm a better spy or saleswoman than a writer (but don't be THAT mean, or else I'll send you a virus... Now that I think of it, I have that bad luck that I would infest my own computer and you would just receive a wordless message =P I'm not that mean as this sounds, forgive me =D). No, really, tell me what do you think, because it's my first experiment in the 'romantic comedy' area (yes, 'comedy', it was supposed to have more humor), and I love reviews =P. 

Well, see you, maybe I can come with more Alina and FE craziness (after dealing with my other fics, of course!) 

I can't say goodbye! It's so strange to have finished it, being this one the first multi-part fic I finish! Ouh, isn't that sweet? =D 

Well, good luck, take care, and please tell me what do you think of this one… 

Nilke 

PS.: How do you think I developed Uther's character? Is he convincing? And what about Alina? I know, I should have asked this before... =D 


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